Australia’s plans for new submarines have run into major difficulties with political controversy and a failure to define the type of submarine required and the systems it might carry.

Australia’s submarine acquisition programme to replace 12 ageing Collins class vessels is locked in political controversy. Some six years after the Defence White Paper in 2009 endorsed it, no decision has been made to acquire these submarines. Instead the programme, mired in political brouhaha, is facing ongoing uncertainty about just what is the requirement.

In broad terms, the requirement is for a large conventional-powered submarine capable of travelling from bases in Australia to the East Asian seas. The idea of a nuclear-powered vessel has been set aside due to the lack of a nuclear power industry in Australia although the benefits of acquiring such a vessel regularly surface in the great submarine debate in Australia.

… Sam Bateman is an adviser to the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is a former Australian naval commodore who has worked in force development areas of the Department of Defence in Canberra.