It’s hard to know who to believe - I was talking to someone from Australian Sub Corp last night and their take on it was that they did have real and major initial design problems but that they were fixed and that now it is an extremely reliable unit. I would actually love to hear from somebody who served on them.
Mel
Didn’t serve on them - know a number of people who did quite well.
The Collins class boats have wound up very capable - after lot of teething problems - that seems to be the general assessment of those who served on them.
The reasons behind going overseas really seem to me to relate to other issues - one big one being that an industry that assumed it was almost guaranteed to get this type of work simply by being Australian has not bothered to develop efficiency or reliability standards this type of work needs.
All things being equal I’d always prefer these major projects for the ADF were as Australian as possible - but not at the expense of capability, efficiency or safety. We have a duty to put our men and women to sea in the best vessels possible - wherever they come from. And defence procurement should never become just another jobs program.