Source: Report
Author: Ji Yongtian
In order to strengthen its defense capabilities in the Western Pacific, the United States and Britain have previously decided to work with the Australian nuclear power attack submarine. This plan called AUKUS has seen a rough prototype after three -month frequent consultation.A few days ago, the heads of state in the United States, Britain, and Australia met in the United States and jointly announced that the AUKUS plan will be divided into multiple stages. It not only includes personnel training, infrastructure construction and technical transfer. The United States will also sell Virginia (VirginiaClass) to Australia, and finally delivered the SSN-AUKUS nuclear power attack submarine designed by Britain and the United States.Overall, this plan not only helps Australia to obtain nuclear -powered attack submarines, but to establish a nuclear -powered attack submarine fleet that can immediately combat operations in the Western Pacific to respond to the next situation.Although the first SSN-AUKUS is expected to be delivered until the late 2030s, it is really impressive, but Britain and the United States will first let some nuclear-powered attack submarines be stationed to Australia from 2023 to fill the underwater warfare underwater warfareThe gap of force.
Nuclear power attack submarine will frequently resident in the Western Pacific
The United States plans to send Virginia -class nuclear -driven attack submarines to Australia for visit this year. Of course, this is not the first time that U.S. underwater troops have appeared in Australia for the first time.However, the first phase of the United States plans to make nuclear power attack submarines prepare for the Western Pacific with frequent short -term rotation methods.There are two main intentions. One is to establish intimidation capabilities. The Virginia class with Australia as a temporary base will be normally patrolled. You can go north to the South China Sea. Monitor the Malacca Strait and His Sunda in the Indian Ocean to the west.Straits, patrolling east in the South Pacific, reconnaissance the military cooperation plan of China and the island countries of the Greater Oceania.The second is to train the Royal Navy's personnel to operate nuclear-powered submarines, prepare for the future installation of Virginia and SSN-AUKUS, and let the Royal Navy's surface ships be familiar with how to fight with large nuclear-powered attack submarines.Astute Class, the Royal Navy of the British Royal Navy, also plans to join this round of plans in the early 2027 to establish a British and American -American submarine forces.
The underwater combat power named the Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-WEST) will include up to four Virginia class and at least one machine-level.The Virginia class is replacing the Los Angeles -class nuclear -powered attack submarine (Los Angeles Class), which has been serving for many years, and currently has more than 20 service.Originally, the United States planned to replace the Los Angeles class with expensive and precise wave -level nuclear -level nuclear power attacks. However, as the Cold War ended, the plan was also canceled and replaced it with cheaper Virginia class.It is just that the Virginia class has developed from the beginning of Block I to the current Block IV. The increased new equipment has also increased costs.In the future, in addition to the four troops and 12 vertical missile launchers in the ship, it is also planned to add a set of new vertical missile launchers to the middle of the ship.Patrol missile.Virginia is expected to build 66 ships, which will be the largest and most advanced attack submarine in the future.
Using SRF-WEST to fill the time for the gap between the combat power, Australia will be used to train staff to step up the expansion of infrastructure. In the beginning, the SRF-WEST nuclear power attack submarine will be used.Virginia-class and SSN-AUKUS purchased by Australia.The United States will approve the sale of three Virginia-levels to Australia, and can retain the right to choose other two. The first ship is expected to be delivered in the early 2030s, allowing the Royal Navy to share SRF-WEST's heavyness before obtaining SSN-AUKUS to obtain SSN-AUKUS.Task.When the Virginia class was obtained in Australia, the design work of SSN-AUKUS was probably over, and construction could be started.These new submarines will be built in Australia in a technological cooperation to increase employment opportunities and improve Australian industrial capabilities.As far as the currently known SSN-AUKUS will be designed with Virginia-level and machine-sensitive, and equipped with new technologies. In addition to providing it to Australia, the British itself will also purchase to fill the vacancies after the retirement of the machine-sensitive level. I hope to create the beauty of the United States.The results of the three win -win situation in Britain and Australia.
Britain and Australia will use SSN-AUKUS
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the world with nuclear -powered combat missiles and attack submarines.In addition to machine -sensitive levels, Vanguard Class, Pioneer -level nuclear -powered ballistic missiles (Vanguard Class).However, the cost of maintaining nuclear power submarines is very expensive, and Britain is unable to afford huge underwater troops. Therefore, there are only four pioneers, and the machine -sensitive level only plans to build seven. There are currently two ships under construction.Due to the small number of construction, the amount of R & D applied to each ship is very high, which has made British nuclear -powered submarine costs high, which indirectly squeezed the plan to upgrade and develop the next -generation submarine.In the future, if the British and Australia can use SSN-AUKUS together, this problem will be greatly improved.The machine-sensitive first ship sensor (HMS Astute) is service in 2010. Australia is expected to obtain the first SSN-AUKUS in the late 2030s. After the first SSN-AUKUS service, Britain can just evaluate the SSN-AUKUS of SSN-AUKUSPerformance and preparation of their own SSN-AUKUS, which began to replace the 30-year-old machine-based level in the 2040s.
Australia now has six Colin -class Collins Class, which is an attack submarine built by Australia with the assistance of Sweden.The Collins class adopted many of the most advanced technologies at that time, but also caused the problem of delay in construction progress, surge in funding, and poor proper rates, and was criticized.In order to seek to replace the next -generation Chai electric submarine of Collins, Australia has carried out internationally, including the Soryu Class of Japan and the Suffron Class in France.Special -level defeated Japanese Canglong class with a high voice and obtained 12 orders.France is particularly built by Australia, called Shortfin Barracuda Class, but follows the Collins -level rear dust. The overall progress is slow, and the cost is still soaring, which has made the Australian government very dissatisfied.In order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, coupled with the rapid transformation of the situation in the Indo -Pacific region, Australia turned to an alliance with Britain and the United States, and decided to abandon the firewood submarine and directly introduce more powerful nuclear power attack submarines.dissatisfied.
In addition to criticizing the AUKUS plan, China violates the "Non -Provered Nuclear Military Treaty (NPT)"
In addition to criticizing the AUKUS plan to block China and full of Cold War thinking, China has further accused Britain and the United States with a nuclear -powered attack submarine to Australia.However, the United Kingdom and the United States emphasized that the nuclear -powered submarine provided to Australia will never be equipped with nuclear weapons. Only the nuclear reaction furnace of the power source will not violate the treaty.In addition, the British and the United States equipped with nuclear-powered nuclear-powered ballistic missiles will not be included in SRF-WEST.At the same time, Australia is a signing country of the "Treaty of RaroTonga Treaty Treaty" and "Treaty of RaroTonga."The related facilities of concentrated nuclear fuel also promised to report the use, transfer, and storage status of nuclear fuel to the International Atomic Energy (IAEA), and Australia will not produce nuclear fuel by itself. FinallyThe sealing method that cannot be opened to avoid abuse of nuclear fuel.
In addition to the criticism of China, there are no shortage of questioning in Australia, especially anti -nuclear groups and environmental protection organizations.Extremely worried about the pollution and crisis caused by nuclear -powered submarines.To this end, Britain and the United States guarantee that they will provide the experience accumulated in the past long -term operation nuclear -powered submarines and establish a security mechanism.When SRF-WEST starts to visit Australia intensively, it will train the Royal Australian Navy to deal with the nuclear waste on the submarine.When building support facilities, the Australian government will also give priority to the problem of nuclear waste and set up a processing agency.At the same time, the AUKUS program also emphasized that the construction of nuclear -powered attack submarines in the Osborne Naval Shipyard in southern Australia will create 4,000 jobs directly and indirectly increased 20,000 job opportunities across Australia to reach 60The output value of 100 million US dollars (S $ 7.9 billion) contributed 0.15%to GDP.With industrial cooperation, Australia can also obtain advanced shipbuilding technology. In the future, British or American submarines can adopt Australian parts or maintenance in Australia to create huge business opportunities.
Taiwan's submarine development plan is full of challenges
Compared with Australia, the development plan of the Taiwan's submarine is still in its infancy. It is necessary to wait for the prototype ship to launch and complete the combat evaluation before deciding whether to mass production.Taiwan ’s self -made submarine was often compared with the Collins class. Because they all decided to build themselves, many people worried that they would continue to follow the Collins -level issues.To be honest, this possibility is not low. After all, this is the first time in Taiwan to design and build a submarine. Although international media reports, the United States provides combat systems, and the United Kingdom has also exported many key technologies to help Taiwan complete this difficult task.However, under the obstruction of mainland China, some key parts may not be able to get together at one time, such as lithium batteries, mucoping tiles, and audio seductive labels.Although the Ministry of National Defense has stated that it has a record, it is likely that it will not be installed on the prototype ship. It is not until the beginning of mass production, and the prototype ship will be modified when it returns to the dock for maintenance and installs these equipment.And in this case, it is likely that it will also happen to the subsequent self -made submarines that have been served in the water. Some sensitive equipment should be fully supplemented or upgraded, and it cannot be in place at one time.
After all, Taiwan must have to have the production capacity of the submarine. These twists and turns are unavoidable. Therefore, after the shipbuilding, it is important to continue to maintain a certain maintenance and modification ability.It was reported that the government intends to establish a submarine park. It is a very recognized direction to develop an industry in this area.Especially the development of unmanned underwater vehicles has become a place where the soldiers must fight. Taiwan's development in this regard is relatively backward. The Huilong plan that the media once reported to it feels more like a manned pocket submarine, not unmanned water, not unmanned water.Download tools.But in any case, it is the most important thing to use the development of self -made submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles to introduce technology to the development of Taiwan's underwater troops for a long time.The self -built submarine is a firewood system. There is no nuclear waste problem with nuclear -powered submarines, and the tonnage is also small. However, many employment opportunities can still be created, and even a stepping stone for manufacturers to enter civilian unmanned underwater vehicles.This is the direction of the Taiwan government's long -term investment. It should not be worried. After encountering problems or obstruction, it will easily give up.
According to the US national security strategy report and national defense strategy report, the confrontation between the United States and China will be a long -term trend.Although AUKUS is a long -term plan, Australia will not be able to obtain the first SSN AUKUS in the late 2030s, and the United Kingdom is even later.Store in Australia.Although the Australian Minister of Defense has denied strictly that Australia did not promise to involve in the Taiwan Strait in exchange for the AUKUS plan, it is known to be passers -by who is targeting the imagination of the entire plan.The situation in Taiwan is just the opposite. In recent years, it has actively strengthened national defense investment. Many plans are to prevent military conflicts from cross -strait outbreaks in a short period of time.However, in terms of information and analysis of all parties, although it is indeed possible for mainland China to use martial arts in the next few years, it cannot be ruled out that this is a long -lasting match.When Taiwan is conducting military investment, it is also necessary to consider the long -term measures so that they will not take care of each other, they will be urgent, and they will not be properly planned.
