By Franz-Stefan Gady
Despite sharing classified data, the Australian submariner community remains skeptical of the Soryu-class submarines.
As the competition over Australia’s biggest-ever arms deal is heating up, Tokyo announced yesterday that it will share classified submarine data with Australia, Reuters reports.
This unprecedented step — Japan has previously only shared classified technical data with the United States — is a clear signal that Tokyo intends to join the competitive bidding process for a $39 billion contract to build Australia’s new submarine fleet in partnership with Australian industry.
The estimated A$50 billion ($38.8 billion) project, meant to replace Australia’s six Collins-class submarines, has been steeped in controversy (see: “Australia’s Botched Sub Bidding Process Upsets Sweden”). Canberra only recently invited France, Germany, and Japan to participate in a 10-month long “competitive evaluation process.”
Each bidder will receive around $6 million to prepare a proposal. However, as I reported before, the specific Australian requirements make an “off-the-shelf” solution not an option. In February, Australian Defense Minister Andrew’s office released details on the specifics of the bids. These include:
Read the full story at The Diplomat