| > One article said that the France contract was about 7 bil per diesel sub, while the new one will be 4 bil per nuclear sub Both of those are wrong. > Is it possible that France though that Aus had no alternative and ran the price up? No, there was an official procedure with multiple candidates ( France, Japan and a third one I can't recall). Australia chose the French option, even though it required significant modifications to a nuclear design to make it diesel electric. > I can't imagine how you can justify 7 bil for a diesel sub Furthermore, the contract included significant know-how transfers and construction in Australia, so whatever the price per sub turned out to be, it wouldn't be for the subs alone. As for why the 4 bil per sub is wrong - they haven't decided anything. They don't know the design, upon what it will be based ( the smaller UK Astute class or the bigger US Virginias), etc. Lots of infrastructure needs to be built, and people have to be trained since Australia has no nuclear sector to speak of. So any price projection as of today is purely theoretical. Oh and the first subs under the new contract should be available in 2040, so probably a decade later. That's a long time. |