I find model 2 interesting, when you say 'extend and upgrade', can I assume you are probably talking about installing Japanese engines and power generation on top of the other maintenance and upgrade work that would be required anyway?
Whilst this would appear to carry more risk than model 1, it also seems to me it could also be seen and used as a 'stepping stone' in evolving the current design to the replacement 'evolved' Collins, I suppose it would also come down to the time (and cost) involved in getting them back in service before a replacement is ready to build.
the above is my preference as there's still lots of life left in the old girls. unfort what it requires is commitment from prev, curr and future govts to step back from the politics and honestly attend to maintaining - and in the case of the prev Govt, treating Defence budget like a raiding opportunity to prop up other obligations.... It would allow us to wait longer for other techs to mature which are under consideration.
It would also require Govt to divorce itself and be clinical about options rather than become an open door to lobbyists and industry raiding parties pushing models which are more about industry benefit than capability benefit.
It also means switching off from the halfwit commentary in the broader press - they already ignore the looney bloggers, so we should extend some gratitude to those bloggers and more hysterical web sites as thye've already shot themselves in the foot, so no additional help is needed.
Then of course there is model 3, obviously a decision still has to be made on which one of the two remaining options is selected, evolved Collins or a new design, considering the current Government appears to be putting the issue of submarines as high defence priority, I'm wondering how long it is going to take to get to the point where they could be ready to start construction?
depends on who you speak to, but the brutal reality is that someone should have shut that door and cemented 90% of the decision a few years back.
unfort what we'll see is a variation of what happened with the prev Govt where Libs treated subs as an opportunity sport to hook into Govt. I would expect that now that they've had proper briefings they will change their attitude but you will now see Lab defending (what I see as) their prev indefensible behaviour and a failure to acknowledge that it was buggered on their watch
Of course this all hinges on how and whether Govt acknowledges that procurement is stuck in a mobius strip due to the governance constraints imposed upon the agencies and that until they change the ratio of projects that can get through the gate reviews to available projects then all projects will continue to suffer.
meanwhile the moron element will continue to blame the internal Divisions for the failings of procurement rather than have a proper understanding of the procurement model in the first place.
DMO, CDG and CIOG are in this mess because of the constraints imposed by the regulations and approval cycles - and sometimes by central agency problems where passed over execs decide that its their opportunity to make others bleed so as to send a message about the depth and reach of their own power......
I've attended a gate review where a senior inquisitor (in rank not age) asked a 2 Star RADM what C4ISR was. At that point you know that you're in for a hiding.
/rant off
