A Suvarnabhumi nuclear submarine is on display at the French naval group`s shipyard in Cherbourg, three years after completion of construction
Australia`s $80 billion purchase of a french submarine has encountered yet another obstacle because it is so expensive that the federal defence department is advised to abandon it.
An audit of the major military purchases found that the next generation of submarines in Australia had been delayed by up to nine months.
Two of the key contracts were also postponed.
The Australian National Audit Office said:" As a result of this, the Ministry of Defence is unable to show that its $396 million future submarine design expenditure is fully effective. "
The huge engineering project to design and build a new generation of submarines is the largest defence procurement project in Australia`s history.
The Department of Defense plans to purchase 12 new generation Attack-Class submarines to replace six Collins-Class submarines.
According to the Audit Office, the decision of the Ministry of Defence not to purchase "off-the-shelf" submarines increases the risk of this military purchase project.
The massive works contract was awarded by the French Naval Group and designed and built at the Osborne Shipyard shipyard in South Australia.
However, the auditor`s report revealed that the Ministry of Defence had approved that the hull of the first submersible court would be made entirely in France to avoid further delays.
US weapon contractor Lockheed Martin is the battle systems integrator for the sub project.
The Audit Office believes the success of this huge military purchase will depend on the establishment of an efficient long-term partnership relationship between the Australian Ministry of Defence and the French Naval Group.
It said:" This key relationship is still in its early stages and the active management of specific issues and partnership relationships between the two sides is critical to effective risk management and plan success." "
The audit revealed a tense relationship between the defence ministry and the french naval group, with a consultancy advising it at one point considering whether to drop the contract.
The disagreement between the Ministry of Defence and the French naval group over submarine-making methods became a major issue.
Under the contract, a new generation of submarines will be built in succession in the 2030s, the first of which will be delivered to the Australian Royal Navy in 2035.
Defense minister Reynolds told the Aussies that everything was going step-by-step about the design and construction of a new generation of submarines, and that the design was delayed to make them more suitable.
By doing so, she said, it would reduce the cost of changes and uncertainties during the construction of attack-grade submarines and would also reduce the cost of sudden events in construction. []
But proposals party defence affairs speaker, Richard Marles, didn`t tolerate the delays, warning that government`s "mishandling" of the project poses a significant risk.
He said all three key aspects of the plan had gone digitally wrong: delivery time, project costs, and the construction component in Australia.
The purchase of a new generation of submarines was proposed by Tony Abbott as prime minister, who had hoped to purchase Japan`s ready-made Canglong-class submarines, but when Malcolm Turnbull served as prime minister, he awarded the contract to the French naval group in the bidding process, and it was designed by the group to design a new submarine, made in Australia.
Central alliance senor Rex Patrick, who has an important balance of power in the Senate, claims:& quot; alarm bells are ringing. []
