Australia scrap its French submarine contract with Naval Group.

According to information published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on September 15, 2021, Australia scrap its French contract of Barracuda-class submarines to sign a new alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States called AUKUS, aiming to make the Royal Australian Navy's next submarine fleet nuclear-powered.
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President Joe Biden, joined virtually by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaks about the national security initiative (Picture source: Twitter account of Yamiche Alcindor)

Naval Group had been selected as Australia's partner for the Attack-class submarine program in April 2016, which is a class of submarines for the Royal Australian Navy, was expected to enter service in the early 2030s with construction extending into the late 2040s to 2050.

The program, which was estimated to cost $90 billion, would have been the largest and most complex defense acquisition project in Australia's history.

Since the beginning of the year, disagreements between the Australian government and French company Naval Group have emerged.

As early as March 2021, Navy Recognition was one of the few to write that Australia could abandon the contract and was looking for alternatives.

Australia signs a trilateral security pact called AUKUS with the United Kingdom and the United States. Under the pact, the United States and the United Kingdom agree to help Australia to develop and deploy nuclear-powered submarines. The agreement covers key areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, underwater capabilities, and long-range strike capabilities.

The Attack-class design was based on a conventional version of the Barracuda SSN (or Suffren-class), which is powered by a nuclear propulsion system using a new hybrid design that provides electric propulsion for economical cruise speeds and turbo-mechanical propulsion for higher speeds. the submarine can reach a top speed of 25 knots (46 km/f; 29 mph) with an unlimited range of 10 years. It has a crew of 60 people including 12 officers and 48 sailors.