For nearly 2 years, part of the Australian press close to the Labor opposition party has been leading a merciless war against the contract won by the French Naval Group to design and build on site 12 Shortfin Barracuda-type submarines, a conventionally powered version of the Barracuda model from the new class of nuclear attack submarines Suffren which will enter service in the coming months within the French Navy. Supported by the Swedish Saab-Kockums who had built the 6 Collins class submarines currently in service and who hope to benefit from a possible derailment of this contract, this latent war seems to have reached a new threshold, when the Independant Australia news site announced the failure of the program yesterday, based on the visit of Naval Group CEO Eric Pommellet to Canberra as a harbinger of an imminent breach of contract.
Of course, this information must be taken with immense precautions, especially since the journalist who is at the origin, Alan Austin, is a political and economic journalist, and not a defense, and he is customary for scathing attacks on the Australian Conservative government, as well as very catchy titles bordering on “Click Bait”. Above all, the article does not at any time give any objective evidence to suggest that Naval Group and the Australian authorities are deadlocked. And this especially since the conservative press, for its part, offers a completely different vision of the future of the program and its smooth running. In addition, terminating the program would leave Australia with no solution to replace the Collinses, even though they mark the weight of the years, and their operational capacities have long been uncertain.
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