AUKUS

April 30, 2026

I agree with the arguments put forth in this article by Stewart Sweeney. The agreement to purchase any piece of equipment, military or otherwise, that might not be delivered for at least another 20 years, and even then, might not be delivered at all, and even then, we’ll probably only get the second-hand version, does seem to be rather odd basic business practice.

However, there’s another, more major problem with these submarines. A major berthing port is currently being built near Perth, WA, at the cost of another $8 Billion. Perth is notably the most isolated capital city in the world. The top speed of a nuclear sub is 45kph. Assuming there’s a problem somewhere near Taiwan, for example, it will take, on a good run, and assuming it doesn’t have to dodge around the whale migration seasons, or get stuck in the shallow waters of the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos, it will take seven and a half days to get there! Really? Is nobody in the ADF capable of working that basic bit of arithmetic out? And then, surprise surprise, most countries, friendly or not, do already happen to have antisubmarine technology. Oops.