(Sydney) Canberra planned to prefer American submarines to the British, the former Australian defense minister said on Thursday, lifting the veil on deliberations, usually kept secret, following the rupture of a major contract with France.
Posted at 8:06
Assuring Thursday that “no decision” has been taken, the new Australian government was indignant at these “offhand” remarks by former Minister of Defense Peter Dutton, who left office in May after the defeat from conservatives to legislators.
Revealing the hitherto secret plan to purchase American Virginia-class submarines, Mr. Dutton indicated, in an article for The Australian, that he had planned to buy from Washington by 2030 two of these nuclear-powered submarines and to build eight more to bring the fleet to ten ships.
This project was to be the centerpiece of Australia’s defense strategy against an increasingly aggressive China under President Xi Jinping.
The remarks of Mr. Dutton, who has become leader of the opposition, “damage the national interest of Australia”, lambasted the new Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on Thursday.
“The government has made no decision on which submarine it prefers. All options are on the table,” he said in a statement sent to AFP.
The former government had denounced a contract to purchase French conventional diesel-electric submarines for more than 50 billion euros, preferring British or American nuclear-powered submarines.
“Low level politics”
It was part of a new alliance formed in September between Canberra, London and Washington, dubbed AUKUS. Australia is conducting a 181-month study of its options for nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS deal.
Mr Marles called his predecessor’s statements “low-level politics”.
“The comments are flippant and undermine the AUKUS deal,” he said.
In The Australian, Mr Dutton points out that US submarines are capable of vertically launching missiles and are based on a “proven design”.
Britain’s Astute-class submarine, meanwhile, is of recent design with “inevitable” cost overruns and design flaws, he adds.
Dutton said Australia needs nuclear-powered submarines to compete with China because they are stealthier than conventionally powered ones and don’t require coming to the surface to recharge batteries.
To avoid a hiatus in the replacement of Australia’s six Collins-class submarines, Mr Dutton says he had planned to purchase two submarines directly from the United States within ten years.
It will take until 2038 for the first of eight other American-designed submarines to be built in Australia, as promised by the former government.
The ex-minister says he fears that the new government is “about to make a very dangerous decision”, such as the construction of a new class of diesel-electric submarines.
“These were clearly confidential discussions, which (Mr. Dutton) had with the Americans, which he was not prepared to divulge when he was in charge, and yet he does so afterwards,” underlined Sam Roggeveen, director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute. Which is “very unusual”.