![]() At the same time, India’s Kalvari-class submarines are built under a 2005 technology transfer program with France. French aerospace company Safran in cooperation with India’s DRDO plans to co-produce jet engines for India’s 5 th generation fighter. When the hydrogen is mixed with oxygen, it generates electricity to charge the submarine’s batteries and produces water used in the cracking process.Īsia Times has reported on France’s assistance to India’s 5 th generation fighter and conventional submarine programs. India’s new AIP system is most likely derived from Naval Group’s Fuel Cell Second Generation (FC2G) model, which cracks diesel fuel in a reformer to extract hydrogen, using liquid oxygen and nitrogen as oxidizers. The report did not mention specifics about the AIP’s performance, but did say it is unique in generating hydrogen onboard instead of storing it aboard in liquid form. The report cites a DRDO statement that says senior officials of DRDO New Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) and Naval Group signed the agreement to extend cooperation for the detailed design phase of integrating India’s indigenous AIP into the INS Kalvari, with Naval Group certifying the integration. This month, Indian Express reported that Naval Group France and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) had signed an agreement to develop fuel cell AIP to be retrofitted on the first-of-class INS Kalvari, a derivative of the French Scorpene-class submarine. "As a Prime Minister, I must make decisions that are in Australia's national security," Mr Morrison said.France and India have signed an agreement to cooperate on air-independent propulsion (AIP) technology to upgrade the latter’s Kalvari-class submarines, deepening the growing strategic relationship between the two countries.ĪIP technology allows conventional submarines to stay submerged for weeks at a time, approaching the underwater endurance of nuclear submarines. So what happens to the France submarine deal?Īustralia will be pulling out of the deal to have French shipbuilder Naval Group deliver a dozen conventional submarines, however the details on how that will happen and what that might cost remain unclear. "The management of waste, the disposal of the submarine at the end of its life, all of those are issues where we will be engaging with our US and UK partners," Defence department secretary Greg Moriarty said. Greens leader Adam Bandt referred to nuclear submarines as "floating Chernobyls", and said his party would vehemently oppose the new partnership.Īustralia doesn't have much domestic nuclear capability, and the UK, US will work with Australia over the next 18 months to determine how the plan will be delivered, including how the subs will be fuelled. That gives them a huge advantage over conventional submarines, as they're faster, quieter, need to surface less often and don't need to be refuelled.īut there are those with concerns about the safety of nuclear reactors. The subs being acquired by Australia won't have nuclear weapons, but they will have nuclear reactors instead of conventional diesel-electric propulsion systems. There's a difference between a nuclear-powered submarine and a nuclear-armed submarine. What does it mean that these submarines are nuclear? Mr Morrison said $2.4 billion had already been spent on that program. There's no word yet on how much the new nuclear deal may cost and it's unclear how much Australia might have to pay to scuttle its deal with France. ![]() The 12-submarine project that Australia just ditched was worth $90 billion. ![]() In general, submarines are also incredibly expensive. ![]() "Some in China might well say this is a response to our concerns over China, but, you know, the conversation about acquiring nuclear-powered submarines has been going on since the 1960s," he said. ![]() However Chris Barrie, who was the chief of defence in the late 90s and early 2000s, said nuclear submarines had been discussed for decades and would not dramatically transform the region. ![]()
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