AUKUS leaves Australia facing costs far beyond the price of the submarines themselves. Having stopped producing submarines decades earlier, the country must restore its shipyard capability. Its diesel-electric experience does not provide the institutions needed for nuclear operation, so Australia must rebuild one industrial base while creating another. The preceding SSK proposal tried to turn a small nuclear-submarine design into a diesel-electric boat and was not working well. A nuclear fleet therefore depends on durable production, support, and training capacity built well before the first operational vessel arrives.
Notable Point · 10:12-12:24
AUKUS and the infrastructure behind nuclear submarines
AUKUS shows that acquiring nuclear submarines requires Australia to restore submarine production while creating specialist nuclear skills and support infrastructure.