Partnering with other nations to deliver Australia’s submarine capacity has been a feature of every Australian sub since 1914.
Even the Adelaide-based Australian Submarine Corporation began as a company half-owned by Swedish company Kockums, the owner of the basic platform on which the Collins Class submarine is designed.
“We started with a British built sub, the AE1, maintained that relationship until we switched to a USA partnership for the Oberons and then a Swedish partnership for the Collins,” Submarine Institute of Australia (SIA) executive director Steve Davies told InDaily.
“It’s a bit of a misunderstanding to say that you can just buy a submarine ‘off-the-shelf’.
“You need partnerships for the platform, and partnerships for weapons systems and combat systems.
“Over time those partnerships evolve with a technology transfer as occurred with the Swedish partnership.
“People forget that Kockums owned half of ASC for a long time.”
Davies said the prospect of a Japanese partnership reflected the current state of the submarine industry.
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“Because we have military needs that involve submarine operations from off the equator into Australian waters, we have a need for a long-range boat.
“Most long-range subs on the market these days are nuclear-powered and that’s not possible under our current policies.
“So we need diesel powered long-range subs and about the only maker of something that fits that is the Japanese.”
Davies believes the Japanese contribution would be for the platform of the submarine, while the weapons and combat systems would still be produced in partnership with the USA.
“How that works is open to many different possibilities.
“For example, you might jointly build the first hull in Japan and then transfer the technology and trained personnel back to Adelaide for the rest of the build because the expertise will have to come here as its still going to be the maintenance base.”
Davies said the relationship model used in the Kockums-ASC model in 1987 would best be avoided.
“That was a commercial company to commercial company arrangement and there was lots of litigation when things went wrong.
“In these scenarios you’re better off with a government to government relationship where diplomacy plays a role in resolving disputes.
“We get the impression that the current Japan option is being negotiated at a Prime Minister to Prime Minister level and that’s probably a good thing.”
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Federal Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs told ABC radio today that a partnership would still mean more jobs for Adelaide.
“This is a massive procurement contract; the substantial work will be conducted in Adelaide and there will be much more work in Adelaide,” he said.
Federal Opposition frontbencher Mark Butler said it was unacceptable for Adelaide to be “glueing together Japanese submarines”.
100 years of submarine partnerships
1914 British built AE subs arrive in Sydney.
1919 Surplus J Class British subs gifted to Australia.
1923 There was a vigorous debate on the subject of whether Australia could or should build replacement submarines for the “J” class using Australian industry. As the debate faded so did the subs; J1, J2, J4 and J5 were sold to a Melbourne salvage syndicate in 1924 for a total sum of 15,470 pounds. One by one, they were docked at Williamstown, stripped of fittings and equipment, and their hulls towed away and scuttled. J7 was the last to go. She lay at Flinders Naval Depot, Westernport where she was used for some time as an auxiliary power plant. In 1929 she was sold to Morris & Watt Pty Ltd, South Melbourne and, on 4 December 1929 she was towed to Melbourne for dismantling. In 1930 her hull was likewise sunk as a breakwater at Hampton, Port Phillip Bay.
1941 During World War II US submarines were based at Brisbane and Exmouth (WA) and then Fremantle.
1963 The rebirth of the Australian Submarine Service followed the decision of the Naval Board to order four of the highly successful British “Oberon” class vessels for the RAN. The orders were placed with Scotts yard at Greenock and each vessel took just under three years to build. Australian personnel were sent to the UK to be trained as submariners. They would develop the Australian Submarine Arm and when the ageing “Oberons” were due to be replaced it was decided to build six new submarines utilising Australian industry,in partnership with Swedish engineering company Kockums in 1987. Based on a fifth generation version of the Swedish sub, the characteristics and range of Collins class submarines were tailored for its defence and two-ocean surveillance role in the Royal Australian Navy. The sophisticated combat system, AN/BYG-1(v)8, is the result of an Armaments Cooperative Program (ACP) between the navies of Australia and the US.
Source: Submarine Institute of Australia
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