Musashi_kenshin
Well-Known Member
That's largely because of the cost of a domestic build. If Australia wants locally-built ships it's going to have to pay a premium for them. Growing the Australian naval industry means it can support ships itself, rather than send them halfway around the world for refit. EDIT: They do not cost 9 billion AUZ each. You're either confusing life-time costs with build costs or using false data.
Supposedly the A210 was what was offered to Australia by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. If in reality TKMS is offering the A200, that's a god-awful design which was only suitable for second-rate navies in low-intensity conflicts. Not what Australia needs. The "second tier" title is a bit of a deception game trying to make the Australian public think they're affordable. In reality they'd be suitable for general warfare, just supporting bigger ships. The A200 would struggle with that role.
Which is why Australia should buy the New-FFM. Japan is building them now, and I have no doubt that Australia could negotiate to slip into the production schedule. TKMS doesn't even have the long-lead items ordered, let alone ships under construction that can be sold to Australia.
"Problematic" is an understatement. It's much too late to change the Hunter-class if Australia wants new ships within the next decade.
Australia has signed contracts with BAE that will be watertight - see the penalty clauses for the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, which were so severe David Cameron couldn't cancel them because the savings would have been negligible. Trying to wriggle out of the frigate contract would mean paying BAE what it will get for delivering new ships. If Australia wants to pay BAE tens of billions for nothing, it could do so. But it would be the worse defence scandal to hit the country in modern times.
The A200 has a worse weapons fit, a larger radar cross section, is slower, requires more crew (at a time when the RAN has a recruitment problem) and generally is less sophisticated than either the Mogami or new FFM. As for command and control hardware, it would be up to Australia if it wanted that installed on Japanese-built frigates or not. The Japanese aren't going to sabotage their own export deal by insisting the original CMS be used.
In my view, people supporting MEKO because it's familiar aren't being serious. The Anzac class has been completely overhauled from its original design. Did the RAN go "waaah, different, me no like, want switches, dials and speaking tubes"? Of course not, they embraced change.
The whole point of the new frigate deal is that it progresses quickly and that local manufacture be a lower priority. The Australian government has said the first three frigates will be built overseas. Don't be surprised if that increases due to lack of capacity at Australian shipyards.
As for Japan not having experience of helping a country build ships, that's a daft argument suggesting that the Japanese are too dumb to teach and the Australians too dumb to learn. When was the last time BAE UK helped a foreign nation build a large warship? Did that stop it exporting the Type 26 design?
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