Defence Minister Stephen Smith has announced what he calls a significant challenge - establishing what exactly is wrong with the Australian Collins Class submarine.
A UK expert will head another review into the fleet to examine why at times only one of the six subs has been available for operations.
But one defence analyst says there've been occasions when Australia's had no seaworthy submarines at all and there's no-one in the navy actually responsible for keeping the Collins Class subs in the water.
What if the report from that project brings so many skeletons out from the closet that it makes the idea of building home grown subs impossible? How? Well, some of the people responsible for building today’s troubled Collins-class sub are the same that sustain them.
Today, from this article, Smith paints himself—and an unwilling taxpayer—into a corner.
The answer for Australia was a conventional fleet to be built in South Australia, he said.(Smith)
After initial problems with the Collins fleet a decade ago, the US provided a state-of-the-art combat system and the latest technology to improve the subs' propulsion systems and make them less noisy.
An aside for history buffs, the combat system made by a domestic Australian company actually came in with less cost and better performance than an American solution. But that story is for another day.
Maybe I give too much credit to Mr. Smith’s thinking skills as it pertains to the good of the nation and its defence.
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