![]() For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. “China’s missile force is really, in my opinion, the real reason that is driving this decision because surface ships right now are so vulnerable and we saw it in Ukraine where two relatively crude short-range missiles took down the flagship of the Russian navy.” skip past newsletter promotion “No one is going to be foisting off clunkers on good friends and allies.” ![]() “The shelf life of a Virginia class submarine is 33 years and it has life-of-boat nuclear reactor, it doesn’t require refuelling.” ![]() “Right now we realise we’re going to have to do some more outsourcing … in terms of Australia possibly being a contributor, whether it’s steel fabrication, parts and components.”Īsked if Australia is more likely to get new or used Virginia class submarines, Courtney said “when it comes out you’ll see” but assured Australia that “what you will get is of the highest quality”. “We don’t have to do this tonight, we’ve really got some runway to stand up these programs and I think it’s going to be a transformational enterprise for working people in Australia,” Courtney told ABC’s Insiders.Ĭourtney also rejected the view expressed by the Democratic senator Jack Reed, chair of the US Senate armed services committee, and the former Republican senator James Inhofe, that the purchase of submarines was a “zero-sum game”.Ĭourtney said he was confident Virginia class submarines could be delivered, citing the fact the US submarine production had “grown and contracted” over decades and had delivered four attack submarines a year and ballistic submarines during the cold war. Late in 2022 two top US senators warned the Biden administration not to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia because it would diminish US national security given the vessels are “scarce”.īut Courtney said that the US had built 21 Virginia class submarines over two decades, with two more to be built this year, and an increased “production cadence” as the program was “back on track” after a slowdown during Covid.
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