On 16/9/21 12:48 am, Stephen Loosley wrote:
Australia to get nuclear-powered submarines, will scrap $90b program
to build French-designed subs ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-15/allied-naval-united-states-biden-australia-nuclear-submarines/100465628
A French nuclear submarine redesigned for conventional power was never a
good idea, but neither are nuclear ones. Instead, Australia could
purchase proven conventional submarines, and use its resources to design
and build UUVs (underwater drones) for them to launch.
In the next decade submarines will need to make the transition major
capital ships did in WWII, from battleships to aircraft carriers. Like
battleships of WWII, a submarine's ability to get close enough to carry
out an attack will be very limited. Just as aircraft carriers took over
from battleships as the major capital ships, submarines will need to
become carriers of UUVs for surveillance and attack from a distance, if
they are to are to survive more than the first few hours of a conflict.
No doubt submariners will at first think of the UUVs as very smart, very
long range torpedoes, but new tactics will evolve.
Australia has the technical skills and industry to build armed and
reconnaissance UUVs. The large investment needed to for Australia to
make a few copies of foreign nuclear submarines, would be better spent
making Australia a world leader in UUVs.
ps: I mentored a team at the Navy Warfare Innovation Workshop 2020
(NWIW), on what to do with, and about, autonomous platforms:
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/12/navy-warfare-innovation-workshop-2020.html
--
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au
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