They gave us 24 super hornets out of the USN already scheduled production run. They say we are a close.

They aren’t short of bugs and can order more.

Measwhile the USN has a massive deficit in SSN subs which will only get worse. They are working desperately to try and increase production of the Virginia class from 2 to 3 a year and are looking at ordering an extra 10 block V/VI at the expense of pushing the building of the SSNX Seawolf replacement hunter-killer to the right.

Not saying it can’t be done - but it would be a very hard sell in Congress. More chance of getting few forward based in Australia with some exchange crew to get used to working with nuclear subs - and the locals used to them.

Yeah the US just magicing up 2 extra subs from somewhere was never going to happen, more likely for me if they do decide to go virginia, which I think is not going to happen that 2-4 of early block 1 from hawaii will be foward deployed to somewhere in australia. There will be a mixed RAN / USN crew for them

Also bill in the US for RAN personal to access US training facilites
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/20...ining-program/

ASLO (yes I know) to above report: "...“It is imperative that we strengthen our undersea capabilities and increase submarine production for our [U.S.] national security interests, and the training exchange program outlined in the legislation will help us achieve that goal,” Moore [Blake Moore (R-Utah)] said in a statement about the bill." https://news.usni.org/2022/06/15/new...ining-pipeline

I previously said I think we will get the Astute subs. I still lean that way. Simply because of lifetime costs and manning

The supers were a while ago and it was a big deal at the time. I wouldn't discount the event. I would love to hear about all the other times, the US has given a country equipment out of their run. I don't know of any, but I haven't deeply looked either.

The shipyards have said, they will invest in infrastructure to build 3 Virginias a year, if they get a fixed multiyear order.

I wouldn't totally discount the possibility of the US giving us 2 Virginias out of their run, but that isn't what Dutton said, was it? He said we could 'get' 2 by 2030. He also earlier talked about leasing.
His oped was vague and politically motivated, in my opinion.

The Brits got some U-2's very early................... but they were probably on lease

I'd suspect the US will lease 2 older Virginias (which al least you know are worked up and have the bugs rung out) and add a couple to their run. The Astutes are coming of a single, very slow line that is needed for other things by the RN. Remember they are building a class of 7 boats - the first one was laid down over 20 years ago and they are still building the last two.

Different story to the supers. The brit pilots were on exchange to the US to fly the U-2. Later the brits acquired the U-2 they were flying, in part to run separate programs.
Aussie pilots are on exchange to the F-22, only we aren't given any.

https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/ma...uncement-nears
An announcement on Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program is due “shortly”, according to the chief White House adviser for the Indo-Pacific.

Totaly missed this announcement

The admiral who oversees U.S. attack submarine construction has been appointed to lead the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) partnership that promises to develop a nuclear-powered attack boat for the Royal Australian Navy, the Department of the Navy announced Friday.

Seems more and more likely virginia's are in the RAN's future

As per this article. It certainly shows that the USN and US Government are fully behind this project so I don’t think there will be any political factors blocking this project.

https://news.usni.org/2022/06/22/nav...rt-says-secnav

More positive signs from a senior USN advisor.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-helping-au...093100591.html

Richard Marles, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister did a speech to CSIS

https://spacenews.com/nro-space-miss...a-cooperation/

NRO space missions mark new level of US-Australia cooperation

NROL-162 and NROL-199 carry spy satellites built and operated jointly by the U.S. and AustraliaWASHINGTON — Rocket Lab on July 13 launched the NROL-162 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from the company’s launch complex in New Zealand. NROL-162 is the first of two NRO missions the agency developed in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence.

The second one, NROL-199, is planned for July 22. Both missions are classified spy satellites that the U.S. intelligence agency developed jointly with the Australian government.

The partnership with Australia is part of a broader effort by the National Reconnaissance Office to have a more integrated space architecture to support U.S. and allies’ surveillance needs. The NRO recently announced a similar partnership with the United Kingdom.

Well, `straya already owns at least one of the big SIGINT birds up there - so this adds to that.

That was also with the US, We put one up into the network and we got access to all the network. AUKUS also gives us access to another network, that I saw Dutton announce at the time. I don't know if this is related to that.

If it was developed by Aussies, then that's a lot of effort to find Speed Cameras!

14 Jul 2022: Australia to Pick Nuclear Submarine Design in Early 2023, Says Official - USNI News
"WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Australian government is set to announce the design for its first nuclear submarine in the first quarter of 2023, its deputy prime minister and defense minister said Thursday. Canberra is also looking to see how it can speed up the process for getting the chosen submarine built and deployed, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Thursday...."

Well, one former SAS Captain is speaking with great authority on the topic:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/...16-p5b22i.html

Andrew Hastie may have a military background but, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

The PWR2 reactor doesn’t meet modern safety requirements & the PWR3 is reported as not being able to be modified to fit the Astute hull. Nuclear reactors require a lot of lead time to process the fuel and certainly can’t be done in the timeframe that he is indicating. The PWR2 Core H only has a 25 year life in comparison with the S9G reactor’s 33 years & the Virginia can cruise with just convective reactor cooling whilst the Astute needs to run coolant pumps at all times. There’s a huge difference in performance and capability of these two submarines.

I suspect his comments are of a political nature aimed for widespread consumption of the masses (& possibly to establish political friendships in the UK).

My thoughts exactly... he should stick to speaking about soldiering.
There's only one boat Australia should get in my view... and it ain't the Astute.