[rualca]

> Australia went from an ever-closer relationship with France to ditching them, unannounced.

This is a very disingenuous take on the issue, if not outright completely wrong, and it feels like you intentionally decided to feign ignorance regarding France's failures to deliver and even meet the contract's basic requirements.

https://www.politico.eu/article/why-australia-wanted-out-of-...

[lerela]

Despite those difficulties (that do not sound ludicrous considering the complexity and the amount of technology transfer that was required, but I'm no submarines expert), as I mentioned in another comment, the joint communique between French and Australian Defence minister from August mentioned that "both sides [were] committed to deepen defence industry cooperation and enhance their capability edge in the region" and that "ministers underlined the importance of the Future Submarine program".

Looking back, it is hard to argue that official line was not very disingenuous, even after acknowledging the issues with the program.