Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Gravitas: France offering nuclear submarines to India?" video.

As an Australian I love some of what Palki's saying here and she' spot on with most points but she has made a fairly major mistake. France was NEVER building nuclear submarines for Australia. We were going to build conventional versions of the Barracuda class (called the Shortfin Barracuda) here in Australia (which we called the Attack class) with a lot of components made in France. At one point during that process NAVAL Group (DCNS) did offer nuclear powered Barracuda's but that was rejected. The single biggest problem with that project were the costs which were spiraling out of control. Another thing she also skips over is that NAVAL Group already make conventional submarines called the Kalvari class based on the French Scorpene submarine. So this deal is a natural progression for France and India. Maybe the AUKUS fiasco has sped things up.
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The French did offer nuclear powered subs to Australia. As an Australian I love some of what Palki's saying here and she' spot on with most points but she has made a fairly major mistake. France was NEVER building nuclear submarines for Australia. We were going to build conventional versions of the Barracuda class (called the Shortfin Barracuda) here in Australia (which we called the Attack class) with a lot of components made in France. At one point during that process NAVAL Group (DCNS) did offer nuclear powered Barracuda's but that was rejected. The single biggest problem with that project were the costs which were spiraling out of control. Another thing she also skips over is that NAVAL Group already make conventional submarines called the Kalvari class based on the French Scorpene submarine. So this deal is a natural progression for France and India. Maybe the AUKUS fiasco has sped things up.
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@valenrn8657 Which offer are you talking about? Are you comparing there submarine reactors with their civilian reactors? We all know that sometime around 2012 DCNC/Naval did offer the nuclear powered Barracuda, which just highlights how long this crap went on. There hasn't been much said officially but its hinted that the 10 year refueling was the issue. That said there is one stat on the Barracuda that should not have been discounted. Its full crew compliment is ~70 compared to an Astute ~100 and Virginia ~130. For even a fleet of 6 that's a low fewer submariners to find and train and the RAN has struggle with that all through the Collins shite show. On the Astute variant we are likely to end up with we need to consider automation which the French clearly have got. How else can they have that size crew without automation. I use to work with an American who was a fully trained nuclear power plant operator in the USN (on aircraft carriers). He once told me the US power units had almost zero automation.
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@valenrn8657 Yeah we all know what Dutton has said and you MUST take anything he says with a bucket of salt. A pinch just wont do. He's extremely good at presenting vague information. Possibly one of the best politicians in Australia, because he always seems to get away with it. Superior could be a lot of things. Safety functionality, size, weight, efficiency, maintenance costs or combinations of things. Its a vague term, that allows other people to make mistakes by assuming what was meant. A good friend on mine was right into student politics and explained that stuff almost 30 years ago. I'm finally starting to get what he meant.
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