And if our politician really have the vision and the balls(I wonder if they have any of that), they should seriously consider nuclear option and get a real off-the shelf option called the Virginia class SSN that is practically the same cost (if not cheaper) than an evolved Collins/Soryu but way more capable.
Do you think nukes haven't been considered? The last direction about evaluating nukes was when the abbott govt got into power - ever wondered why they went quiet about it, That wasn't the first time nukes have been considered
In what respect (outside of persistence) is a nuke better than a Collins/Soryu for RAN CONOPs?
The Soryus predecessor was nicknamed the "nuke killer" - you can assume with some confidence that it is a far better platform than its predecessor
what limits any sub is food - it doesn't matter how long they can trade on paper, they all have to come back to restock on food - including nukes. Collins was always designed to be able to run close to nuke mission cycles - I can't think of any other heavy conventional that gets close to it
Anyway, so far ASC has already got the monopoly for the maintenance contract and the high-end, engineering intensive system integration works already (which, to be honest, should both be open to tender for other yards in Aus too). Then why SA still crying wolf for those one-off low end welding jobs like it is now or never? I just don't see why some overseas construction matter that much.
some of the welders and engineering tasks done by ASC are the most complex in Australia. In fact when I was involved in setting up teams for certification there were no other industries outside of offshore drilling that came close, hence why there people were always in demand and were regularly poached as they wanted their welding and engineering skills
I'm not sure why you have this issue about SA crying wolf - the shipbuilding facilities are without peer - where else in the southern hemisphere is there another facility close to techport? The skills at that site are far from low end skillsets - and in particular the welding. What other industries of significance require certification for overhead welders, underwater welders etc.... We used to fail 90% of applicants because they couldn't do it.
As for overseas construction - the issue is (and I don't know how many more times I have to say this here, or to some of the deluded in the SIA) you cannot build the sub offshore, do a blue marlin and then bring it back for fit out. You have to build in modules, and if you are going to do that then there is NO reason at all as to why it can't be done here
and there is no way in Hades that we will be allowing partial fitout overseas (some of our critical partners would have a blue fit - and quite rightly so)
you're making a lot of assumptions, you'd be better served listening to people like Volkodav or asking questions rather than making those assumptions.
on other issues:
As for the "competitive evaluation process" statement - that is just meaningless drivel, Unfortunately you now have Labor and people like Xenophon running with the hares and making a daft thing even worse.
the evaluation is done within the tender process - and its govt which mandates australian or defence requirements so that the tender doesn't result in every man and his dog wanting to provide us with subs that may not have any relevance to RANs requirements
you can't have the evaluation before the tender - the tender definition is based on what RAN wants and includes any govt constraints (such as "must be built in Australia", must have suitably cleared people to "nn" level, all critical staffing must pass and meet minimum security levels of "nn", must be born in a country on the watch list etc.....
Just as an aside - when I attended the UDT Virgina briefings some years back the USN Proj Manager made a point of hilighting that the subs were built on Japanese manufacturing processes as they were the most effective and efficient they could find. They made the Virginias a greenfield project so that they weren't constrained by prev practices