The Admiral in charge of planning for Australia's next generation of
submarines and the chief defence scientist are studying an advanced new
submarine in service with the Japanese navy.
Rear-Admiral
Rowan Moffitt, head of the Royal Australian Navy's Future Submarine
Program, and Dr Alexander Zelinsky, the Chief Defence Scientist, travel
to Japan this month to look at the Soryu-class submarines, which started
service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force three years ago.
Submarines no longer all at sea
Access
to the Soryu technology was discussed during a visit to Australia last
month by the Japanese navy's chief, Admiral Masahiko Sugimoto. It was
only in December that Tokyo lifted its post-World War II embargo on
defence exports.
The 4200-tonne Soryu-class boats are
the only new conventional submarines of the size and capabilities set
out in Canberra's 2009 defence white paper for 12 new submarines to take
over from the Collins-class subs from the late 2020s.
''Our
strategy with the Japanese is one of hope, because there are some very
attractive characteristics about the Japanese submarine,'' Rear-Admiral
Moffitt said.
As well as having a close alliance
relationship with the United States similar to Australia's, Japan's navy
operated in the same Asia-Pacific environment, which was reflected in
its submarine design, he said.
''Their submarine, by all
accounts, and their design and the evolution of that design, has by all
accounts brought them to the point of having a very good submarine,''
Rear-Admiral Moffitt said.
''However, submarine
technology tends to be crown-jewel stuff for nations, it tends to be at
the most extreme end of sensitivity that nations have about protecting
their intellectual property - especially if they have developed it
themselves, as Japan has, as the US has. They've invested a vast amount
of money doing that.''
Under a $214 million allocation
in this year's budget, the RAN has stepped up work on selecting the new
submarine design. Four options are: Adapting an existing ''military off
the shelf'' or MOTS submarine, a large ''evolved MOTS'' design, an
evolution of the Collins class, and a completely new Australian design.
Until the Soryu became theoretically available,
off-the-shelf submarines included only German, French and Spanish
designs of about 2000 tonnes.
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