By akademiotoelektronik, 01/04/2023

Submarines: Naval Group will send the invoice to Australia "in a few weeks"

SUBMARINES - The French industrialist Naval Group will submit “in a few weeks” to Australia a “detailed and quantified proposal” of the “costs already incurred and to come” after the termination of the gigantic contract for the construction of 12 submarines, indicated its CEO Pierre Éric Pommelet to the daily Le Figaro.

“Australia terminated the contract for ‘convenience’, which also means that we are not at ‘fault’”, he explained.

“This is a case that is provided for in the contract and which will give rise to payment of our incurred and future costs, related to the physical ‘demobilization’ of infrastructure and IT as well as the reclassification of employees. (…) We will assert all our rights”, added the leader.

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Naval Group was selected in 2016 by Canberra to supply 12 conventionally powered (non-nuclear) submarines derived from the French Barracuda nuclear submarines which France is beginning to acquire.

The total amount of the contract, of which only the first phases have been concluded, amounted to 50 billion Australian dollars (31 billion euros) at the time of signing, or 90 billion dollars taking into account the inflation over the duration of the program and cost overruns.

“Incredible brutality”

Called the “contract of the century” in France, it was the largest contract for defense equipment ever signed by either a French industrialist or by Australia .

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But on September 15, Australia announced it was breaking that contract to finally acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of a new partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, with the United States and the United Kingdom.

“This decision was announced to us without any notice, with incredible brutality,” said Pierre Éric Pommelet in the columns of Le Figaro.

According to him, “in no case has Naval Group been asked to offer Barracuda-class SNAs (nuclear attack submarines), the very latest generation of this type, to Australia. Such a subject can only be dealt with at the highest level of the State.”

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Also see on The HuffPost: Parly booed copiously in the Senate while explaining the submarine crisis