Australias Submarine Folly (The Diplomat, Flashpoints blog)

 

Link to the Australian Defence White Paper 2013.

Wouldn't condemning the possibility of future home grown subs be demanding perfection on a first try? I mean, I can understand increased scrutiny and all that, but it isn't a simple thing to build a sub at home...

Agreed, Brains. Australia's so called "folly" in acquiring new submarines pales in comparison to that of Canada.

We should sell Canada and Oz some subs... I support nukes for US SSNs but we could make some money building conventional subs for our friends.

We're probably going to end up spending as much to refurbish the ex British Upholders and put them into effective service (as if), as we would have if we had simply acquired new-build nukes (Los Angeles, Trafalgar or Amethyste, iirc) back in the mid 1980s when they were considered.