New Submarines for Australian Navy

(Perth, Australia) The plan to replace the Australian Navy submarine fleet has been announced.

The federal government will spend $15 billion on a new Australian-built fleet of submarines under a 15 to 20 year project.

The project codenamed SEA 100 will replace the Royal Australian Navy's fleet of six Collins-class subs based at Garden Island near Perth, the West Australian newspaper reported on Friday.

The submarines will be built in Adelaide, be non-nuclear and use a combination of Australian, European and US technology.

The acquisition was expected to create thousands of jobs and interest from international submarine outfitters.

It would also have major strategic and diplomatic consequences, a defence expert told the West Australian newspaper.

New technologies being developed by China and Russia would make the Collins-class subs obsolete, Andrew Davies from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said.

Naturally, the dollar values quoted are Australian. Current exchange rate is US$1.00 = A$1.54.