I think this will ultimately be a good deal for all involved. I have to say, though, this will be a heck of an undertaking, given the sheer amount of infrastructure that needs to be established to support the boats down there. A couple of thoughts:
1. I expect there will be some poaching of USN nuclear trained officers and enlisted by the RAN; some of this has already happened in the past, actually, for 1120s. The fact is that the USN's submarine force is still going to be declining in numbers for the next decade (we won't bottom out until 2029), which means that there will be plenty of nuclear trained LTs and LCDRs with no prospect for DH or XO in the USN submarine force that might suddenly find an offer to live/work in Australia very attractive.
2. I wonder if there might be an opportunity here for the US to patch up relations with the French by stepping into Australia's place to buy into their SSK program? Even if it only results in a handful of boats, they could still be useful as an aggressor squadron for training if nothing else. The only way that would work, of course, is if all the funding for it were provided outside of the Navy's existing topline. Even then, I'm not sure the Biden administration would be able to overcome the institutional bias against non-nuclear submarines in the USN's leadership.
I think this will ultimately be a good deal for all involved. I have to say, though, this will be a heck of an undertaking, given the sheer amount of infrastructure that needs to be established to support the boats down there. A couple of thoughts:
1. I expect there will be some poaching of USN nuclear trained officers and enlisted by the RAN; some of this has already happened in the past, actually, for 1120s. The fact is that the USN's submarine force is still going to be declining in numbers for the next decade (we won't bottom out until 2029), which means that there will be plenty of nuclear trained LTs and LCDRs with no prospect for DH or XO in the USN submarine force that might suddenly find an offer to live/work in Australia very attractive.
2. I wonder if there might be an opportunity here for the US to patch up relations with the French by stepping into Australia's place to buy into their SSK program? Even if it only results in a handful of boats, they could still be useful as an aggressor squadron for training if nothing else. The only way that would work, of course, is if all the funding for it were provided outside of the Navy's existing topline. Even then, I'm not sure the Biden administration would be able to overcome the institutional bias against non-nuclear submarines in the USN's leadership.