SYDNEY: Australia’s defence minister on Friday unveiled the members of an expert advisory panel that will oversee the bidding underway between Germany, France and Japan for a lucrative deal to build its fleet of next-generation stealth submarines.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and France’s state-controlled naval contractor DCNS separately are competing with a Japanese government-led consortium over the A$50 billion ($38.52 billion) contract, the biggest in Australian defence history.
The panel will be comprised of former US Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter, former Australian judge Julie Anne Dodds-Streeton, lawyer Ron Finlay and former BAE Systems.”Collectively, these advisers share extensive experience in complex military acquisition programmes, legal and probity matters, and major projects,” Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said in a statement.
Winter’s presence is likely to be seen as a boon for Japan, which has Washington’s support in its bid to supply a replacement for Australia’s ageing Collins class submarines, based on its 4,000-tonne Soryu-class submarines.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is eager to deepen security ties with Japan, reflecting a US desire for its two allies to take a bigger security role in Asia as China’s military might grows. Eager for that cooperation, the United States is backing the Japanese-built submarine packed with American surveillance, radar and weapons equipment, sources familiar with Washington’s thinking have told Reuters.
A deal to supply a variant of Japan’s Soryu-class submarine would give Tokyo its first major overseas deals after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe eased curbs on arms exports last year that had isolated defence contractors for seven decades. But Abbott is facing intense domestic political pressure to secure the thousands of manufacturing jobs that the build would bring, which led to his decision to open up bidding to Germany and France.
This week, influential Australian independent Senator Nick Xenophon blasted Japanese defence officials over comments that Australia was incapable of building a version of a high-tech Japanese-designed submarine at home. The group will oversee a 10 month-long “competitive evaluation process”, after which the Defence Department will advise the government on preferred bidders.
