Hervé Grandjean Profile picture
Sep 21, 2021 20 tweets 4 min read Read on X
In the last few days, everything and its opposite has been said about the Australian submarine contract. The safety of Australians and the performance of our industrialists deserve better than peremptory statements. A #thread to better understand the Australian submarine affair.
➡️ France and submarines are serious business.⤵️
Over the past 120 years, France has built more than 250 submarines, including more than 230 conventional-powered ones. The feedback in terms of engineering and know-how is considerable.
The French project benefited directly from the technological assets of the Suffren nuclear attack submarine, as well as from Naval Group’s expertise, gained from numerous Scorpene programs sold for export (Chile, Malaysia, India, Brazil)
In many ways, the performance of the Attack submarine offered by France to the Australians was better than that offered by a nuclear submarine. Why? ⤵️
Particularly in terms of acoustics, the discretion of a conventional submarine remains under certain circumstances paradoxically better than that of a nuclear submarine: a conventional submarine does not have a permanent cooling system for its reactor in operation.
The silent speed (at which a submarine can listen without being detected) was particularly high thanks to the pump-jet technology, that very few countries master.
The submarine proposed to Australia was of oceanic class, meaning it had very high autonomy and range capabilities.
➡️ France and Australian submarines: the customer is king ⤵️
In 2009, the Australian Defence White Paper, two years after the start of the Collins replacement project, already said: "The Government has ruled out nuclear propulsion for these submarines".
In August 2021, the joint press release of the French and Australian defense and foreign affairs ministers still stated, "Ministers underlined the importance of the Future Submarine program."
On the same day as the #AUKUS announcement, the Australians wrote to France to say that they were satisfied with the submarine's achievable performance and with the progress of the program. In short: forward to launching the next phase of the contract.
Returning to the surface to recharge the batteries is inherent to a diesel-electric submarine. This was the Australian request.
A nuclear submarine has, by nature, a greater projection capability than a conventional submarine. The planned tonnage of the SM Attack (between 5,000 and 6,000 tonnes) was large enough to provide the projection capability required for Australian naval operations.
➡️ The Australian choice: bad news for... the Australians. ⤵️
The first Attack submarines were to be delivered by 2030. With this new AUKUS partnership, it will be more like 2040. That's a long time, when you see how fast China is militarizing...#FastIsBeautiful
According to a June 2021 Congressional Research Service report, the production costs of the last two Virginia SSNs ordered (35th and 36th) would be $6.91 billion, or $3.46 billion per unit (€2.95 billion). Much more expensive than a French Barracuda for example...#GoodManagement
The September 17 announcement indicates that the nuclear submarines will be built in Australia. But Australia says it does not want a nuclear industry, neither civilian nor military. #Coherence
Are we to understand that the United States will provide complete nuclear boiler rooms to be integrated into submarines, with teams of American technicians to ensure commissioning, maintenance and perhaps even operation? #Sovereignty
Investments in infrastructure capable of hosting nuclear submarines in Australia, necessary to prevent any environmental risk, will be expensive and complex. #Complexity

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More from @HerveGrandjean

Mar 18, 2022
1. Le ministère des Armées est régulièrement questionné sur son stock de munitions. Alors où en sommes-nous? Thread à dérouler ⤵️
2. La Loi de Programmation Militaire a bien anticipé la nécessaire régénération de nos munitions. La preuve en chiffres: 7 milliards d’euros alloués aux munitions sur la période 2019-2025.
3. Cet effort massif a été encore accéléré lors de l’actualisation de la LPM en 2021, avec 110 millions d’euros supplémentaires programmés.
Read 10 tweets
Mar 14, 2022
Le ministère des Armées est aujourd’hui mis en cause par une enquête de @Disclose_ngo, qui porte sur des livraisons d’équipements militaires à la Russie. Soyons clairs et précis. Thread à dérouler ⬇️
En matière d’exportations d’équipements militaires, la France se conforme strictement à ses engagements internationaux, notamment le traité sur le commerce des armes et la position commune de l’UE.
En particulier, la France applique très strictement l’embargo sur les ventes d’armes à la Russie décidé en 2014, suite à l’annexion de la Crimée.
Read 8 tweets
Dec 23, 2021
1. La visite d’Eric Zemmour auprès de nos soldats à Abidjan suscite des réactions. Il est important de comprendre dans quel cadre cette visite a été autorisée par le ministère des Armées.
2. Les personnalités politiques peuvent visiter des unités militaires, si elles en font la demande et dans le respect des impératifs opérationnels et de confidentialité. C’est une pratique républicaine tout à fait courante et légitime.
3. Le ministère des Armées leur demande dans ce cas de réaliser ces visites dans la plus grande discrétion: pas de médias, pas de photos à usage public, pas de réseaux sociaux.
Read 7 tweets
Nov 4, 2021
L’armée française choisit des pulls chinois plutôt que des pulls « Made in Tarn »?
❌ Fake news!
Les faits, dans un thread à dérouler ⤵️ 1/6
Un contrat de fourniture de pulls pour l’armée française a été conclu avec deux entreprises françaises en septembre 2020: Saint James et Léo Minor.
La confection est faite soit en France soit au Maroc ou en Tunisie. Les matières premières sont européennes. 2/6
La compétition pour ce marché public a été menée conformément au code de la commande publique, sur des critères de qualité, de prix, en intégrant des dispositions de responsabilité sociale. Le marché a été construit pour permettre aux PME de se porter candidates. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
Sep 21, 2021
Depuis quelques jours, tout et son contraire est dit sur le contrat australien de sous-marins. La sécurité des Australiens et la performance de nos industriels valent mieux que les affirmations péremptoires. Un #thread pour mieux comprendre l’affaire des sous-marins australiens.
➡️ La France et les sous-marins, c’est du sérieux ⤵️
Depuis 120 ans, la France a construit plus de 250 sous-marins, dont plus de 230 à propulsion conventionnelle. Le retour d’expérience en ingénierie et savoir-faire est considérable.
Read 20 tweets

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