[LINK] AUUKUS

[Tom Worthington]

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