{"id":6381,"date":"2021-10-19T20:54:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T20:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=6381"},"modified":"2021-10-19T20:54:06","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T20:54:06","slug":"nuclear-subs-and-a-diplomatic-blowup-the-us-france-clash-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=6381","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear subs and a diplomatic blowup: The US-France clash, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“lays the groundwork for Australia to acquire at least eight nuclear submarines with support from the US and the UK. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison<\/a> said it also marks the \u201cfirst major initiative\u201d of a tripartite new security agreement among the countries under the acronym AUKUS (pronounced AWK-us, according to the AP<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis initiative is about making sure that each of us has a modern capability \u2014 the most modern capabilities we need \u2014 to maneuver and defend against rapidly evolving threats,\u201d President Joe Biden said in Wednesday\u2019s joint announcement<\/a> with Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AUKUS submarine deal replaces a previous agreement<\/a> between France and Australia for France to deliver 12 non-nuclear submarines.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In public remarks..French officials, including Le Drian, have not held back their shock at Australia\u2019s decision to turn to the US and the UK. \u201cWe had established a trusting relationship with Australia, and this trust was betrayed,\u201d Le Drian said on Thursday, according to Politico<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s decision to withdraw his country\u2019s ambassadors to the US and Australia in response to the pact marks a surprising breakdown in France\u2019s historically close relationship with the US \u2014 but Australia\u2019s decision to look to the US for its submarine fleet is less surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Specifically, China\u2019s military buildup, and its quest for dominance in the South China Sea \u2014 a major trade route for Australia \u2014 made the French submarines obsolete before they were even delivered. Because the US-made submarines rely on nuclear power, they have a far greater range than conventional submarines, don\u2019t require refueling, and have better stealth capabilities \u2014 meaning they can stay underwater for months at a time without being detected, Australian National University researcher AJ Mitchell explained in the Conversation<\/a> this week.”  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In addition to the advantages of nuclear submarines, Australia\u2019s previous deal with France \u2014 a $66 billion<\/a> submarine contract, finalized in 2016<\/a>, that would have provided Australia with 12 conventional, diesel-powered Barracuda submarines \u2014 has been rife with difficulties.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On top of cost overruns and delays, there were other issues as well. Shortly after Australia and France reached the agreement in 2016, the French shipbuilder, then called DCNS, revealed<\/a> it had been hacked and documents related to a separate Indian submarine project exposed. And while France\u2019s submarine technology \u2014 conventional, diesel-powered attack vessels that could be switched to nuclear power \u2014 may have made sense when Australia\u2019s relationship with China was less contentious, that relationship has soured recently<\/a> due to China\u2019s aggressive foreign policy in the Pacific and elsewhere.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Australia and the US reportedly conspired to keep the developing deal from France, even as officials from both countries met with their French counterparts. Biden discussed the future of their alliance with Macron in June, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made no mention of the pact when he met with Le Drian that same month in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Australia also hid its plans from France when Morrison and Macron met in June, although Morrison says he did raise concerns about the viability of diesel-powered vessels, according to the Hill<\/a>. Australia\u2019s defense and foreign ministers even met with their French counterparts late last month<\/a> and issued a joint statement about furthering their defense cooperation, specifically citing the submarine program.”   
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2021\/9\/18\/22680875\/france-us-australia-ambassadors-nuclear-subs-explained<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“lays the groundwork for Australia to acquire at least eight nuclear submarines with support from the US and the UK. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it also marks the \u201cfirst major initiative\u201d of a tripartite new security agreement among the countries under the acronym AUKUS (pronounced AWK-us, according to the AP).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative is about making sure that each of us has a modern capability \u2014 the most modern capabilities we need \u2014 to maneuver and defend against rapidly evolving threats,\u201d President Joe Biden said in Wednesday\u2019s joint announcement with Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.<\/p>\n

The AUKUS submarine deal replaces a previous agreement between France and Australia for France to deliver 12 non-nuclear submarines.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“In public remarks..French officials, including Le Drian, have not held back their shock at Australia\u2019s decision to turn to the US and the UK. \u201cWe had established a trusting relationship with Australia, and this trust was betrayed,\u201d Le Drian said on Thursday, according to Politico.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s decision to withdraw his country\u2019s ambassadors to the US and Australia in response to the pact marks a surprising breakdown in France\u2019s historically close relationship with the US \u2014 but Australia\u2019s decision to look to the US for its submarine fleet is less surprising.<\/p>\n

Specifically, China\u2019s military buildup, and its quest for dominance in the South China Sea \u2014 a major trade route for Australia \u2014 made the French submarines obsolete before they were even delivered. Because the US-made submarines rely on nuclear power, they have a far greater range than conventional submarines, don\u2019t require refueling, and have better stealth capabilities \u2014 meaning they can stay underwater for months at a time without being detected, Australian National University researcher AJ Mitchell explained in the Conversation this week.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“In addition to the advantages of nuclear submarines, Australia\u2019s previous deal with France \u2014 a $66 billion submarine contract, finalized in 2016, that would have provided Australia with 12 conventional, diesel-powered Barracuda submarines \u2014 has been rife with difficulties.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“On top of cost overruns and delays, there were other issues as well. Shortly after Australia and France reached the agreement in 2016, the French shipbuilder, then called DCNS, revealed it had been hacked and documents related to a separate Indian submarine project exposed. And while France\u2019s submarine technology \u2014 conventional, diesel-powered attack vessels that could be switched to nuclear power \u2014 may have made sense when Australia\u2019s relationship with China was less contentious, that relationship has soured recently due to China\u2019s aggressive foreign policy in the Pacific and elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Australia and the US reportedly conspired to keep the developing deal from France, even as officials from both countries met with their French counterparts. Biden discussed the future of their alliance with Macron in June, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made no mention of the pact when he met with Le Drian that same month in Paris.<\/p>\n

Australia also hid its plans from France when Morrison and Macron met in June, although Morrison says he did raise concerns about the viability of diesel-powered vessels, according to the Hill. Australia\u2019s defense and foreign ministers even met with their French counterparts late last month and issued a joint statement about furthering their defense cooperation, specifically citing the submarine program.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[187,89,272,355,414,314,1097,619],"class_list":["post-6381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-foreign-policy","tag-france","tag-international-relations","tag-submarines","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6382,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381\/revisions\/6382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}