British defense boss commiserates a bit with France over Australia submarine breakup

LONDON – British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace admitted if he were French he would be extremely disappointed over the Australian decision to ax a $65 billion deal with Naval Group to build diesel electric-submarines, but he said the move was done for strategic, not industrial, reasons.

“I understand Frances’s disappointment at the cancellation of the diesel-electric deal,” Wallace said at the DSEI defense exhibit here on Sept. 16. “It was a big deal, done in 2016. I would be deeply disappointed on behalf of the industry I represent, of course I would, but fundamentally this is about Australia changing its capability requirements.”

The step didn’t amount to a “betrayal” of France, Wallace told the BBC earlier in the day.

The British defense minister said on a smaller scale he took similar decisions every day to cancel projects, sometimes upsetting companies, but he had an obligation to taxpayers to change direction.

Would Britain do a similar deal with other nations seeking nuclear submarines? Wallace thought not.

“First of all, it’s based on the Five Eyes agreement. They are one of our closest, oldest, allies,” Wallace said, referring to the Australians.

He stressed Britain wasn’t the only player in the saga .

“We are joined at the hip with the U.S. – it takes two to agree on these types of approaches. That’s why on this type of program you don’t get one without the other,” he said.

Wallace said Australia first approached the U.S. and Britain in March. It started, he said, with Australia wanting to have a better capability to defend itself and protect its interests.

“We have all seen China investing more than anybody else on the planet increasing its armed forces,” said Wallace.

“I think we should recognize Australia is joining that very small club of nations that have nuclear submarines and it did it for strategic advantage,” said the defense secretary.

Most of the French anger over the Australian decision has been directed at the U.S., but Wallace said the three nations had too much in common for a lasting dent in relations.

“If we all step back, France, Britain and the U.S. agree on so many things. We share same the values,” he said.

BAE System is currently building a fleet of Astute- class nuclear powered attack submarines and designing a fleet of Trident ballistic missile submarines for the Royal Navy at its Barrow yard in northern England.

The company has a substantial stake in the Australian shipbuilding industry in part due to Canberra’s 2018 selection of the companies Type 26 frigate for anti-submarine duties.

“There will be a boost for the British defense industry in this collaboration because we have sub-systems that Australia doesn’t have that we will be able to offer into that,” Wallace told the BBC.

Wallace suggested there might even be a consolation prize for French industry resulting from the change of industrial partners.

“Thales, a great success, a French company with a very large workforce in the UK benefits from our submarine industry and [they] have a potential benefit from the new deal.”

The company was quick to announce in a statement on Sept. 15 that its business outlook would remain untouched by the Australian decision to drop Naval Group.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国国防大臣本·华莱士承认，如果他是法国人，他会对澳大利亚取消与法国海军集团价值 650 亿美元的柴电潜艇建造合同感到非常失望，但他表示，此举是出于战略原因，而不是工业原因。

“我理解弗朗西丝对柴油电力交易取消的失望，”华莱士9月16日在DSEI防务展上说。“这是一笔大交易，于2016年达成。我当然会代表我所代表的行业深感失望，但从根本上讲，这关乎澳大利亚改变其能力需求。”

华莱士当天早些时候告诉BBC，这一举动并不构成对法国的“背叛”。

英国国防大臣表示，他每天都会做出类似的决定来取消一些项目，虽然规模较小，有时会惹恼一些公司，但他有义务对纳税人改变方向。

英国会与其他寻求核潜艇的国家达成类似的协议吗？华莱士认为不会。

“首先，这是基于‘五眼联盟’协议。他们是我们最亲密、最古老的盟友之一，”华莱士在谈到澳大利亚时说道。

他强调，英国​​并非这场事件中唯一的参与者。

他说：“我们与美国紧密相连——这类方案需要双方达成一致。因此，这类项目不可能只有一方参与，另一方参与。”

华莱士表示，澳大利亚最早于三月份与美国和英国接洽。他说，起因是澳大利亚希望拥有更强的自卫能力，以保护自身利益。

“我们都看到，中国在扩充军备方面投入的资金比地球上任何其他国家都多，”华莱士说。

“我认为我们应该认识到，澳大利亚正在加入拥有核潜艇的极少数国家俱乐部，而它这样做是为了获得战略优势，”国防部长说。

法国对澳大利亚的决定大多愤怒指向美国，但华莱士表示，这三个国家有太多共同之处，不会对两国关系造成持久的损害。

他说：“如果我们冷静下来仔细想想，法国、英国和美国在很多方面都意见一致。我们拥有相同的价值观。”

BAE 系统公司目前正在其位于英格兰北部巴罗的造船厂为英国皇家海军建造一支“机敏”级核动力攻击潜艇舰队，并设计一支“三叉戟”弹道导弹潜艇舰队。

该公司在澳大利亚造船业拥有相当大的股份，部分原因是堪培拉在 2018 年选择了该公司建造的 26 型护卫舰执行反潜任务。

“此次合作将促进英国国防工业的发展，因为我们拥有澳大利亚没有的子系统，我们可以将其提供给澳大利亚，”华莱士告诉BBC。

华莱士认为，由于产业伙伴的变更，法国工业甚至可能获得一些安慰奖。

“泰雷兹是一家非常成功的法国公司，在英国拥有庞大的员工队伍，受益于我们的潜艇产业，并且[他们]有可能从新协议中受益。”

该公司于 9 月 15 日迅速发表声明宣布，澳大利亚决定放弃海军集团不会影响其业务前景。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。