After breaking off their agreement with France, Australians worry they’ll never receive American submarines

https://www.marianne.net/monde/geopolitique/apres-avoir-rompu-l-accord-avec-la-france-les-australiens-s-inquietent-de-ne-jamais-recevoir-les-sous-marins-americains

by EstablishmentNice377

33 comments

  1. Four years after breaking off its agreement with France to everyone’s surprise, Australia is beginning to wonder: what if the Americans never deliver the submarines they’ve already started paying for? In the continental country’s “Guardian”, concern is running high.

    Will the Australian submarine project fall through? In any case, it won’t be a splash tomorrow. An article published in the Guardian on March 6, 2025 worries about one possibility: Australia, after having tried to save money by not buying French submarines, risks finding itself without a fleet, due to the failure of its eternal ally, the USA.

    Let’s recap. On September 15, 2021, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom unveil a little bombshell in the defense world: AUKUS. The result of 18 months of secret talks, this agreement provides for extensive military cooperation between Uncle Sam, Britain’s special partner and its Commonwealth ally.

    At the heart of the negotiations was the acquisition by the Australian Navy of five British-style submarines, and three American submarines. Mechanically, this agreement puts an end to a commitment to purchase 12 French submarines: a contract worth 56 billion euros. A diplomatic scandal. France even recalls its ambassadors to Australia and the United States, in reaction to what looks like an industrial stab in the back.

    No delivery guarantee

    Except that, a few years later, it’s all over. Nuclear submarines – in terms of their engines, not their missiles – seem to be slipping away… At any rate, Australians are realizing that they may be the fall guys. In his article for the Guardian, Australian journalist Ben Doherty worries about the sovereignty of future “Australian” submarines: “These nuclear submarines, stationed in Australia, could fly American flags, carry American weapons, and be commanded and armed by American officers and sailors. Australia, a steadfast ally, is reduced to a forward operational garrison – in the words of the chairman of the US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee, nothing more than a ‘central base of operations from which to project power’.”

    To tell the truth, the very possibility that these submersibles might one day exist raises questions. “In both Washington and Canberra, there is growing concern about the very first step: America’s ability to build the boats it has promised Australia,” says the reporter. The American ally is becoming increasingly unreliable, focusing on its own capabilities rather than cooperation.

  3. Like we say in France :

    ” I hear “cheh” in my oreillette !”

  4. I might be missing something, didn’t they buy British submarines?

  5. Hahahahaha I mean Australia wanted to play with fire and got burned. What did they expect?

  7. What’s the truth here? Aren’t the subs being built jointly between Australia and the UK (admittedly they added a bit of US tech on).

  8. Australia is on the right side of the globe, they will deliver, question is who’s side is US going to be on further down the line

  9. They picked a discount model from the schoolyard bully. It’s a bit sad. But Australians knows a thing or two about how to swallow their pride with a bit of dignity so hopefully they wil reconnect with old friends.

  10. Australia with nuclear subs was a ridiculous idea in the first place. They were shaken during the covid period with a diplomatic rift with the Chinese, after years, decades even, of their economy being buoyed by Chinese economic growth. The Australian media suddenly developed a bizarre obsession with a possible future war with China, going on a spree with articles about said war, even admitting that Australia might not be able to go it alone, and having to go at things with one or two allies, like the US Navy. It was truly ridiculous.

    Still the idea of power projection into the Pacific seemed to take hold and infect the brains of politicians. The French subs were absolutely perfect for Australian requirements. Much better than the troubled Collins Class the Aussies have–they were never quiet enough for modern warfare–and perfect for Australian coastal defense. That type of subs are silent, and with a professional crew, can creep up on ships like aircraft carriers, and nuclear subs with relatively noisy coolant pumps constantly running. Go Google German and other European pictures of US carriers taken from undetected diesel-electric boats, maybe a Swedish or Danish sub did the same as the German boat? It proves the effectiveness of those types of boat, though, in a situation in which, say, Chinese naval vessels were circumnavigating your coast and conducting live fire exercises. Man, those French boats would be perfect for seeing those Chinese ships off in that scenario, but when would that ever happen?

    No, the Aussies got all pumped up and wanted to play with the big boys, with big boy toys, so they turned their backs on the French because they were getting nukes! Little Buddy class nuclear attack boats that could cruise all the way to China. They were going to have a blue water submarine navy and have the biggest swinging dicks in the south pacific. And look at how that’s turning out with an increasingly multipolar global security situation.

    I bet they have to make a humiliating purchase from Sweden or Germany sometime in the future, hell, maybe even France.

  11. Trust us, we are horrified about the fuckery our gov did on this. It’s a national disgrace and very likely the reason we have to tread so carefully with no retaliatory tariffs cos these subs literally need to be signed off by trump himself.

    In the meantime this shockingly bad deal has matured, France has went on to become one of the most reliable and important weapons exporters in the world. What a shitshow.

    France basically fined us $1b I believe Aud but coulda been euro. But sorry anyway. Forgive us eventually pls.

  12. Maybe Australia, and every other country, has to consider “What if US were the bad guys all this time” and then think of all the war crimes and coups committed by them. Maybe it becomes obvious then that bad decisions were made.

  14. I’m confused. How can America not deliver them? Aren’t they being built in Australia?

  17. As a Frenchman… This month has been fantastic 

  19. It really does not make strategic sense to leave AUS dead in the water since the main US focus is China.

  20. If any Australians are surprised, that’s their own fault. Speaking as an Australian, many of us were wondering why the government had dropped acid before reneging on the French deal and entangling us in whatever hell this US thing is, and were fairly irate about it.

    Then it became “what’s done is done, don’t show weakness” and pretending that this was a reasonable decision by a lot of the same people who’d been insulting this idiocy weeks before. Those people are still trying to defend and make excuses for this, and good luck with that.

    We know we fucked up. We knew it the second it was announced. The only thing that’s altered is that now the US are blatantly admitting they’re thieves, and so the copium crew are doing their thing.

    The French *should* be laughing.

  21. When AUKUS was announced, we gave a bitter laugh, disgusted by the betrayal of our “allies,” the Americans and the British.
    Then, when it turned out that the U.S. couldn’t even build their submarines, we started laughing.

    Now that Trump is in power and the announcements keep piling up on the subject, we are laughing out loud… and waiting for the Australians to come back and sign a contract with us.

  22. They screwed the French on the deal and now got screwed themselves, hard to have sympathy for them as when they made the jump it was known the deal was to keep alot of the US shipyards on life support.

    I’d not begrudge the French charging them more if they came back.

  23. Originally the agreement was about more than the subs, it was about anchoring Australia as an ally to the US. Military bases for the US, technology transfers, protection against China, etc.

    But well, now that the US aren’t the most reliable ally…

  25. Everyone seems to be laying into Australia here.

    Remember, we all got stung by this administrations change of allegiance. Europe and the UK invested heavily with US equipment as well.

    The only ones with the foresight were the French it seems.

  26. The French should have a submarine pop up in Sydney Harbour and deploy a small fold out market with tiny EU/French flags.

  27. Macron right now: “You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.”

  28. I thought the Aussies were in a joint venture with us (brits) for the Astute Class? Being built by BAE

  31. Y’all didn’t know that all contracts become null and void when we change Presidents?

    Nobody did, but here we are.

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