Substandard. The Auditor General’s verdict on Collins Class extension

The Auditor General’s report into Defense’s project to extend the life of the Collins Class submarines declares it a major failure. Former submariner Rex Patrick on the report and its implications.

report The report on the Collins Classroom expansion project was published today. This is such a damn thing.

The project was so poorly managed that in March the Ministry of Defense recommended to the Government that the scale be changed to “refurbishment and maintenance of existing systems” rather than redesigning and replacing old equipment as originally planned.

Additions leading up to this major program change include a detailed design contract signed in 2022 that has been amended 53 times and increased in cost from $125 million to $813 million, with an average delay of 12 months for key design milestones.

In February of this year, Defense spent $693 million of taxpayers’ money on a program that is now in danger of being cancelled.

But don’t hold your breath if you think someone will be fired for this waste. As is usual with failed Defense projects,

No one holds them to account.

“Improved sustainability.” Collins Class subscribers to fight for – A real hit on the budget

Effects of AUKUS

The audit report states that the project was not managed in a manner “commensurate with its complexity, risk profile and strategic purpose”.

Like MWM Readers know that AUKUS is also a ‘complex’ project, with a significant ‘risk profile’ and a ‘strategic purpose’. That’s alarming, given its $368 billion price tag.

Greens Defense spokesman Senator David Shoebridge commented:

“This is what happens when you have a Defense establishment that has failed time and time again and relies on the unquestioning loyalty of Labor, the Coalition and One Nation.

This is an expensive cult that thrives on public money and the AUKUS gravy train.

Will Defense or the Government change course with AUKUS? Unfortunately no. Defense projects are canceled only when it is impossible to hide the train wreck.

National security implications

The life of the Collins submarines was never supposed to be extended. The original future submarine program, announced in 2009, was supposed to foresee the delivery of a new submarine last year and the retirement of the first Collins submarine this year.

The defense completely blew it. Now they have botched the Type Life Extension to fill the gap between the ‘original Collins’ and the arrival of the first Virginia class nuclear submarine from the USA.

The auditor stated: “[the Life of Type Extension] “It is critical to prevent the submarine capability gap during the transition to nuclear-powered submarines within the scope of the AUKUS partnership.”

But as Shadow Defense Minister Senator James Patterson noted in response to the audit’s findings, “Australia’s aging Collins Class submarine fleet is now expected to continue in operational service until the late 2040s without materially improving its capabilities, which will allow regional navies to outgrow it until AUKUS submarines arrive.”

He’s right.

Collins is getting older, and like an aging car, it will become harder and more costly to keep running with each year. Even now, when they go to sea, they find themselves behind many of the new submarine types in the region: South Korean, Japanese, Singaporean and, so to speak, Chinese.

Worse still, under the planned AUKUS programme, the chances of the Virginia Class submarines replacing the Collins are remote and there is absolutely no chance of them being delivered early.

“Defence has now been forced to spend billions of dollars on experimental plans to keep the aging Collins submarines afloat long enough for AUKUS to recover. It turns out that no part of the plan worked and the multibillion-dollar cost was borne by the Australian public,” Senator Shoebridge said.

SNAFU

Rudd gives his AUKUS speech in Washington, but is the USA marching?