Extend the life of the Collins?

Extend...

A retired Naval engineer has called on the Federal Government to extend the life of Australia's submarines to stop a gap emerging in the nation's defence capabilities.

In an address given at peak body Engineers Australia on Monday night, Chris Skinner said successive governments had dragged their heels over the purchasing of new submarines to replace the current Collins class.

The Commonwealth is currently examining competing tender bids from Germany, France and Japan for the multi-billion-dollar submarine contract, which could involve manufacturing locally and overseas.

Mr Skinner said authorities needed to commit to extending the service life of the Collins class submarines sooner rather than later.

He said everyone appeared to be waiting for the defence white paper to be released but it would take time to choose the design and build the next generation of submarines, so there was no need to wait.

"The nature of that life extension has not yet had much public scrutiny and it's an area where the engineering professions and other professions need to do a great deal of work," Mr Skinner said.

It may be high risk. It may even be magic, but if doable, it would be great to cut the Collins subs open, and completely replace the diesel engines with something reliable.

Of course then, think of all of the systems that are connected to those motors and...how would you graft such a capability to where it works?

Or, dust off the old plans and make a Collins II. That which fixes the combat system and diesel engine setup. Off that, you would have a capable submarine that is supportable.