Interesting that the LHD program has gone approximately to plan (considering the size of the ship and the deal to build her). Certainly will be huge assets to the entire ADF when we get them.
Yes and no. Yes, the oberons were one hell of a sub. But maintaining them was not completely free of problems or expense. The RAN/Cockatoo had to do a lot of development and improvements to maintain and upgrade them. The initial refit took twice as long as planned. But by then end they had a whole system worked out to maintain the things.
http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/sy...5ed533/files/cmp-cockatooisland-dockyard3.pdf
I like the Japanese subs. But what have the Japanese actually offered us? I have a feeling our politicians may not actually be saying what the Japanese are saying. Saying we might collaborate on subs is very different to we will build your subs, locally, invest and run your local companies, solve all your issues (including workforce, Australianisation/customization of the design), run the maintenance and logistics so you will be 100% happy, and do it all for a rock bottom fixed price, just sign here and write when you want your first delivery in the box and how many you want.
The Germans are actually pretty much offering us that. And they can probably do it too. Heck, they built a submarine in Greece before they cancelled the project after the government owed them half a billion. While the Australian industry and ASC is a bit of a mess, I would like to think its less of a mess than Greece.