I not sure how old this report from the ABC is, but is pretty biased imo, there are some interesting observations regarding Collins class and the future submarine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqQLBL3bh84
Government acknowledges past problems in defence projects and the need to better manage sensitive projects in all three branches of the ADF.
Differing views on Collins seems to be that they are between a dog’s breakfasts to a one of the premier conventional submarine in the world; they are challenging Australia’s ability to go it alone to build from scratch for the next gen sub.
The general consensus is that it will be another disaster, they believe when Australia goes into cutting edge tech that the head sheds fail to understand the complexities involved and under estimate the difficulties in bring the tech to maturity. They also go on to say if we go for (their words) Rolls Royce of submarine we have no chance of getting the numbers of submarines in the white paper and we would be better of get OTS solutions, but what? Do a deal with the Japanese not even sure they can sell the tech under their laws.
What are the requirements for the Canadians regarding their Submarine fleet as there are reports that the ex UK submarine’s are causing a bit of grief at the moment, could Australia and Canada share costs in a new design, Victoria class should be nearing replacement at roughly the same time as Collins as their builds are only 5 or so years earlier.