Australia signs massive state-of-the-art submarine deal with French firm
Australia formally signed a A$50 billion ($35.4 billion) “strategic partnership” with France to build 12 state-of-theart submarines on Monday, a signal of Canberra’s willingness to project power across the Pacific.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison hailed the “very audacious plan” at a ceremony in Canberra as “part of Australia’s biggest ever peace-time investment in defence.”
The partnership’s main pillar is a contract for France’s Naval Group – a consortium with state backing – to build 12 attack-class submarines and has been years in the making.
This is Australia’s largest-ever defense procurement project and the largest-ever foreign sales deal by French shipbuilder Naval Group.
The first submarine is expected to be finished in the early 2030s, starting with sea trials around the first quarter of 2031 and operational testing in late 2032.
Visiting French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly cosigned the agreement in a ceremony that took place in the shadow of a memorial to US forces in front of the Australian defense offices in Canberra.
“It takes a lot of confidence for Australia to bet on France and a lot of confidence for France to share with Australia the capability that is so close to the core of our sovereignty and our strategic autonomy and a result of immense investment over decades,” Parly said.
Under the Strategic Partnership Agreement, 12 conventionally powered submarines derived from the Naval Group Barracuda nuclear design will be constructed in a new shipyard in South Australia.
Parly hailed the agreement, which was negotiated and drafted entirely in English, as a long-term partnership between Australia and France and dismissed some “whining about the lengths of the negotiations.”
“Behind those masses of dark steel, behind those eyeless beasts” there was friendship and a common attachment to multilateralism and the rules-based order, she said.
Naval Group chairman Herve Guillou said Australia chose the French submarine design because of its endurance, long range and acoustic superiority.