Australia tries to reign in corruption on A$50 billion submarine purchase

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Australia has an A$50 billion (USD 38 billion) contract to build 12 submarines with a French company.

Australia’s biggest-ever capital project will siphon billions in taxpayer dollars to a foreign entity (DCNS, now the Naval Group) which is embroiled in bribery allegations, construction could stretch to 2050, and no single agency exists to conduct a close inspection to unearth any possible corruption.

Six Australian judges are preparing to meet with Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter to discuss the detail behind their blueprint for a federal anti-corruption commission.

US Navy working to build more submarines at a faster pace

The U.S. Navy is working to build three attack submarines in some years as opposed to two, and wants to keep five of its attack submarines in service longer than expected to address a dip in the number of nuclear-powered attack submarines in coming years.

The U.S. attack submarine fleet is expected to shrink by 20 percent over the next decade. There are 52 attack submarines today; by 2028, that number is expected to dip to 42. The Navy has said it needs a fleet of 66 attack submarines, but that isn’t expected to happen until 2048 under current plans.

The Navy started with construction times of 84 months for Virginia class attack subs but now they are built in 74 months, and the new goal is to build them in 66 months. The submarines cost about $2.7 billion each to build. The US Navy plans to build 12 from 2019 to 2023 for about $33 billion.

The Navy also is proposing to extend for up to 10 years the service life of five Los Angeles-class attack submarines, which the Virginia submarines are replacing.