Comments by "Bob thebomb" (@bobthebomb1596) on "'AUKUS is born': Morrison announces new trilateral partnership for Indo-Pacific" video.

  1. NZ has declared itself nuclear-free, they are not likely to be operating nuclear powered subs any time soon. Pity the Canucks haven't joined though.
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  2. Well the Covid virus is totally democratic, it will infect everyone if you give it the chance.
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  3.  @carmelcream7662  You are gong crazy.
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  4. Except they are not bringing nuclear weapons to Australia, they are talking about nuclear propulsion.
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  5. If Aus wants boats built abroad to start with then they will be US built. There is no capacity in the UK.
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  6. @Billy 2020 Not going to happen that quickly. The UK has been building nuclear boats since the 50's yet we struggled to build the Astutes as we failed to maintain our capability. Aus will be starting from scratch, so it is far more likely that the first boats will be made abroad, which means the US.
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  7.  @simonbird1973  The yard does not have the workers to construct three more boats. There are two under construction and the new Dreadnought's are next up.
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  8. @Billy 2020 The Astute's are averaging about 8 years per boat from laying down to launch. So far it has taken twenty years to build five boats. The US are building one Virginia every eighteen months. The UK allowed it's yard to shed experienced workers and this is the result. Australia will be new to nuclear boats, so don't expect things to run smoothly.
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  9. @Billy 2020 Don't get me wrong, I'm a Pom and more than happy to see you getting nuclear boats. I would simply like to see you get them earlier by buying a few while you establish a manufacturing base. I would obviously prefer you to go with the Astute, but in fairness the US would be able to deliver earlier and probably more cheaply. It might be worth buying say two Virginia class then joining the Astute replacement program. Astute is due to leave service in 2035 so the timelines should match. The replacement will be based on the upcoming Dreadnought class of SSBN (minus the tubes). The dreadnought (and its successor) will have a lot in common with the new US boats, which will give you more options for technical support.
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  10. @Billy 2020 That was what I was thinking. The UK only has four A-Boats available at the moment and little yard capacity to build additional boats. I'm not sure that we could base one over in Aus, though one of the T-boats might be a possibility. That's why I feel the US offers more possibilities than the UK in the short term (sadly). Only my thoughts though, based on what I can glean from open sources.
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  11. @Billy 2020 That makes sense.
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  12. @Billy 2020 The UK has no spare anything :( We are sending a couple of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) to the region, but I believe they are to be based in Singapore. There might be more options available once we get the T31/32s. I know the current plans for the Marines is for more forward basing, so I guess Aus may be an option there. It's not inconceivable that one of our boats is deployed to the Pacific area on rotation, we really need to buy a couple more though as we only have seven in total. I can see a lot more service exchanges in the future though.
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  13. Only if Aus decided to buy the nuclear version of the TLAM cruise missile (and if the US would sell them). Neither is very likely. These boats will be attack boats; primarily designed to hunt other subs, ships and gather intelligence.
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  14.  @RowdyTrain4472  Why would Australia have and use Nukes? I fear you may be correct regarding war but if it becomes necessary to use nukes then the US has more than enough to do the job. It makes no difference who uses them, we will all die anyway.
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  15. Most likely at his monitor
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  16. It will take years to establish an Australian nuclear submarine build capability, just look at the issues the UK have had building the Astute. If you want boats quickly they will be US built.
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