Britain makes pitch for massive Australia warship contract: report

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson poses on the stairs of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney on July 26. Johnson is in Sydney to attend AUKMIN, the annual

meeting of Britain and Australian foreign and defence ministers. (AFP) Britain’s defence secretary Wednesday made a strong push to build Australia’s next fleet of warships, saying the frigates he proposes are best placed to hunt “Russian and Chinese submarines” amid regional tensions.

Australia earlier this year detailed a massive Aus$89 billion (US$70.4 billion) shipbuilding strategy, including constructing new submarines and frigates, in the nation’s largest peacetime naval investment.

The big increase in defence spending comes as Beijing flexes its muscle in the region through a military buildup in the contested South China Sea, and as tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon made the pitch to build the nine frigates as part of a Aus$35 billion project ahead of annual Australia-Britain defence and foreign minister talks in Sydney this week.

Three designers are vying for the massive contract — Britain’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Fincantieri and Spain’s Navantia — which is described by Canberra as currently the world’s largest frigate shipbuilding programme of its kind.

“You need in a region that is now as unstable and tense as it is, as you’ve decided, some anti-submarine hunting capability and the very latest capability,” Fallon told The Sydney Morning Herald.

He said the Type 26 Frigate — a class currently being constructed for the British navy — would be better than their Italian and Spanish rivals in hunting “Russian and Chinese submarines” in waters around Australia and the Pacific. (AFP)