Page 27 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE BUSINESS SENATE ESTIMATES 27
‘In the water’ did not include a commissioning process, and that would have to be worked through. The role of the task force, funded for its 18-month tenure with $300 mil- lion and now more than 100-strong, would be to provide advice to government in the first quarter of 2023 on the optimal submarine pathway, part of which was the delivery of and the schedule of the program.
“It’s our intent that when we start the build program, the design will be mature and there will be a production run already in existence,” VADM Mead stated.
“So, over the 18 months, a design will be settled upon and, once that design is settled upon, that becomes the op- timal pathway that the three partners would agree to.”
Senator Penny Wong: “But that’s not a mature design, that’s still first-in-class. When people heard you say ‘mature design’, I think most people out there thought you meant we get either Virginia or Astute. This answer makes clear that you’re not ruling out a hybrid.”
VADM Mead: “Correct. So, all options are on the table, but the plan is that that design is mature at the start of our build.” As to whether any advice on interim submarine capa- bility additional to Collins was being provided to govern- ment, Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty responded, “Not
at the moment.”
Senator Wong: “So, the public discussions about leasing submarines – those are not on the table. Is that right?”
Moriarty: “No. What we are going to do over the next 18 months is work with our partners to identify how soon we can get a boat, an Australian boat. We will of course be talking to them about how we can look at other options – additional visits by US and UK boats to our area and in- creasing the co-crewing that we do on US and UK boats. We need to build the skills.”
Senator Wong: “So we’re really clear – Australian sov- ereign submarine capability: we extend the Collins for as long as possible and hope that can go long enough to give us time to get a nuclear submarine in the water. Correct? That’s the government’s current plan. It’s pretty risky, don’t you reckon?”
Moriarty: “The Prime Minister has said this is a high-risk program.... he was upfront when he announced it.” ■
ABOVE LEFT: HMAS Rankin sails on the surface in the waters north of Darwin during AUSINDEX 21
ABOVE: HMAS Rankin sails in company with Indian Navy frigate INS Shivalik during AUSINDEX 21
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