Recently, the “Ocus” nuclear submarine agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, which has been tossing for nearly a year, has revealed many new details.
According to a report from the World Wide Web, on the 13th, the White House issued a joint statement by the leaders of the United States, Britain, and Australia.
The statement stated that by 2030, the United States will sell three Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia, and there may be two more after that; after that, in the late 1930s, the United Kingdom will design a brand new “Ocus” for Australia. Class nuclear submarine, Australia probably won’t receive its first submarine until around the 1940s.
According to “Defense News” and other media, since the production capacity of the Virginia-class nuclear submarine in the United States has reached its limit, General Dynamics really has no spare capacity to build a brand new submarine for Australia. In addition, the crew of the Australian Navy is insufficient, so the United States is likely to sell it to Australia. 5 second-hand submarines, waiting for the UK to train enough crews for Australia.
As for the brand-new nuclear submarine designed by the UK for Australia, Defense News believes that this nuclear submarine may be based on the design of the British Navy’s next-generation nuclear submarine and integrate US nuclear submarine technology. “Defense News” stated that this is the most suitable option for Australia, because the US Virginia-class nuclear submarine requires 143 crew members, while the British Astute-class only requires 98. Australia needs a small nuclear submarine that can be used in common with US military weapons.
Based on the speculation of the US “Navy Intelligence” website and other media, the British Navy’s next-generation Dreadnought-class nuclear submarine is likely to evolve into the “Dreadnought-Ocus-class” nuclear submarine.
According to the report, the United States and the United Kingdom have cooperated in vertical launch technology, integrating the vertical launch system of the US Columbia-class nuclear submarine into the British military’s own Dreadnought-class nuclear submarine, but it is still uncertain whether Australia’s Orcus-class nuclear submarine will Follow this design.
The “Navy Technology” website believes that this depends on the attitude of the United States, because the United Kingdom does not have the ability to independently develop nuclear submarine vertical launch technology, and the torpedo tubes used by the British army are no longer produced. The vertical launch system allows submarines to carry more loads. And enable the submarine to have the ability to launch cruise missiles or anti-ship missiles to enhance the conventional deterrence of submarines.
However, although the foreign media has made a lot of noise about Australia’s nuclear submarines, to be honest, there is really nothing to worry about in the nuclear submarine cooperation between the United States, Britain, and Australia.
Anyone who is familiar with US foreign military cooperation projects should know how many US projects have ended up inexplicably bankrupt so far. For example, it was revealed not long ago that Japan spent 360 billion yen to buy 3 drones from the US, and plans to deliver them in 2021 , As a result, there is still one drone that has not been delivered this year. The United States directly told Japan that the drone was outdated and decommissioned and could not be delivered.
What’s more, Biden also drew a big pie for Australia. When it comes to the delivery of three nuclear submarines in 2030, if the Chinese Navy’s current “dumpling delivery” speed is used, the size of the Chinese Navy’s ships will reach a rather exaggerated level by then. Numbers, and what role can Australia’s three nuclear submarines play?
Source: Soho.com
