Australia’s decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines in partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom is a “great disappointment” for Naval Group, the defense industrialist reacted on Wednesday French, who sees a contract of 50 billion Australian dollars (31 billion euros) torpedoed by this announcement.
“The Commonwealth of Australia did not wish to initiate the next phase of the program, which is a great disappointment for Naval Group which offered Australia a conventional submarine of regional superiority with exceptional performance”, affirmed the group in a statement sent to AFP.
“Naval Group also offered Australia sovereignty in this area by making commitments never made by any manufacturer in terms of transfer of technology, content and local employment,” argues the manufacturer.
Naval Group was selected in 2016 by Canberra to supply 12 conventionally propelled (non-nuclear) submarines derived from future French Barracuda nuclear submarines.
“The analysis of the consequences of this Australian sovereign decision will be carried out with the Commonwealth of Australia in the days to come”, adds Naval Group.
The French industrialist had been under fire for several months in Australia where the additional costs of the program were denounced, denied by Naval Group.
“For the past five years, the Naval Group teams in France and Australia, and those of our partners, have fully mobilized. They have given the best of themselves and Naval Group has honored all of its commitments”, affirmed the ‘industrial.
The submarines were to be built in Australia and the manufacturer had pledged that 60% of the contract value would be spent in Australia and create nearly 1,800 jobs in Australia over the next few years.
The Australian Ministry of Defense had mentioned at the beginning of June the threat of a “plan B” in the event of failure of the negotiations of the next phase of the contract, known as “basic design” of the buildings. The Australian authorities intended that they would be concluded before the end of September.
At the end of a “2 + 2” meeting between the Defense and Foreign Ministers of the two countries, on August 30, France and Australia had again affirmed in a joint statement their desire “to deepen cooperation in the field of the defense industry “and” underlined the importance of the submarine program of the future “between the two countries.
Canberra’s change of foothold is therefore a major setback for the Indo-Pacific strategy put in place by President Emmanuel Macron, based on close partnerships with India and Australia and of which the Australian submarine contract was a figurehead in the face of Chinese ambitions in the region.
Source: Seychelles News Agency
