New Defence Minister Richard Marles considering ‘son of Collins’ submarines as stopgap because of AUKUS delays

The new Defence Minister has an “open mind” on building “son of Collins” submarines before the nuclear-powered fleet – despite warnings it could sink the entire AUKUS pact.

Building a new “son of Collins” submarine to plug Australia’s looming defence capability gap would threaten to derail the AUKUS security pact, defence officials warned.

New Defence Minister Richard Marles has revealed he has an “open mind” to building a newer version of the ageing Collins-class submarine before the nuclear-powered boats under the AUKUS deal hits the water in 20 years’ time.

The Advertiser understands the Morrison government examined this option closely, but was advised by defence officials that it could jeopardise the top-secret nuclear submarine deal with the US and Britain.

“The US have reservations about sharing their technology in an environment where other countries not part of the nuclear-powered program are also operating,” a former senior government source told The Advertiser.

“(For example), if you had the Swedes helping to build son of Collins at Osborne, you might get pushback from the Americans about having the nuclear build happen in the same location.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the previous government’s timeline of the nuclear-powered submarine program was unrealistic. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

The former government was also advised of risks that operating three submarine platforms – Collins-class, son of Collins and the nuclear fleet – could stretch navy resources beyond its limits.

But defence industry leaders and policy experts are urging the new Labor government to push ahead with building a conventional fleet to establish the huge shipbuilding workforce needed to construct nuclear-propelled boats at Osborne.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Marcus Hellyer said it was “very hard to generate the workforce” needed to bring nuclear-powered submarines into service.

“That transition from Collins to (nuclear) will be very hard with a lot of risk around workforce,” he said.

Australian Industry Defence Network chief Brent Clark said building the nuclear fleet without an interim program was “fraught with danger”.

“Our view is we need to build an interim capability to keep the supply chain up and running and the workforce skilled and active,” he said.

Mr Marles has effectively said all options are on the table in terms of interim capabilities.

Asked by Nine Newspapers if he would consider building a conventional fleet before the nuclear subs, Mr Marles said: “We need to look at how we can bridge the gap”.

“That’s all I can say, and my mind is open about how we do that.”

Mr Marles also slammed the former federal government’s previous 2038 deadline to deliver the first of eight nuclear submarines, revealing that the mid-2040s was “more likely”.

Last week Labor launched an official Defence study into equipping the Collins-class boats with tomahawk cruise missiles.

[e-mail]

Originally published as New Defence Minister Richard Marles considering ‘son of Collins’ submarines as stopgap because of AUKUS delays