Former submariners with over 500 years of collective service in the Royal Australian Navy are warning a newer version of the Collins-class boat is needed as a stopgap measure before the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines start hitting the water in the 2040s.
The veterans, who have served on Australia's current submarines and the predecessor Oberon-class, are urging Defence to consider building an interim boat based on the Swedish-designed Collins to address a looming capability gap.
In an "Expression of Grave Concern", the group argues: "Australia must keep the Collins submarines running until 2040+ or acquire some new conventional submarines:"
"The fact is that arguably both must be done, or the Collins submarines will be retiring at age 45 and beyond.
"It's reasonable to ask whether they would still be safe to operate, let alone whether they should be used in a fight. This would be very poor value for money.
"Getting on urgently the Collins life extension and building more submarines are both necessary for sustaining today's submarine capability and preparing industry and Navy for nuclear submarines."
One of the signatories to the document is retired Chief Petty Officer Greg Jones, who helped establish the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Submarine Sea Training Group (SSTG).
Speaking to 7.30, the naval veteran described last year's decision to dump French-designed conventionally-powered boats in favour of a nuclear option as a "knee-jerk reaction" that was not properly thought through.
"Everyone's for it, but not now — it's far too early and we need something that's sustainable and capable for our submarine force, our submarine arm within Australia for the next 20, maybe 30 years before we look at nuclear."
Former submariner Tim Bass fears Australia's AUKUS plan for nuclear submarines is being rushed because the Collins fleet is nearing the end of its life, and is worried about possible safety dangers.
"The time it takes to get a capability from our diesel boat generations through to nuclear is not going to happen overnight — you're looking at 20, 30 years to get it done right without bypassing massive amounts of safety to get the job done," Mr Bass told 7.30.
"Now, I wouldn't go to sea on one unless it had been done properly, and I don't think I could find anybody in the country that'd got to sea on a boat that's been cobbled together through a couple of years' worth of 'oh, I think we should do it'."
Swedish company that designed Collins class offers to help again
In the late 1980s, a Swedish company now known as Saab Kockums won an international competition to design and build Australia's new Collins-class submarines in Adelaide.
Saab Kockums's global head of business Lars Tossman recently travelled to Australia to discuss the company's ongoing work on the "Life of Type Extension" to upgrade the Collins-class fleet.
While attending the Indo Pacific Sea Power Conference in Sydney this month, Mr Tossman told 7.30 his company would be willing to work with Australia if it decided to pursue a "son of Collins" option.
"The competence we have now, the program we are looking at could be useful for Australia in both the upgrade and if they would like to have anything more, we are ready to support Australia," he said.
The SAAB Kockums company insists it has had no formal discussions with Defence about a possible interim submarine option but believes Sweden's A-26 design could be scaled up for Australia's needs.
"If they choose to do that, I think the recent experience we have with designing and producing the A-26 modular design — that could be of use for a gap-filler here," Mr Tossman said.
Defence warns 'third submarine class' would bring more challenges than advantages
Senior defence figures, including the Chief of Navy, have consistently rejected the notion of an interim submarine capability between the retirement of the Collins class and the arrival of nuclear-powered submarines.
During this month's Sea Power Conference, Navy Chief Vice-Admiral Mike Noonan strongly criticised the idea.
"I remain very confident, very confident that the Collins-class submarine will remain a very capable submarine that will continue to meet Australia's needs until we see the nuclear-powered submarine," he told reporters.
"Introducing an interim submarine, I think, would bring more challenges than it would capability and it would seem inconceivable that a small navy such as ours could viably operate a transition of Collins, to an interim, to a nuclear."
Similarly, former defence minister Peter Dutton, who helped clinch the AUKUS deal with the United Kingdom and the United States, has been dismissive of the idea.
"It is not in our national interest to pretend we can have a third class of submarine — somehow, we can buy it off the shelf," Mr Dutton said during a Defence debate held at the National Press Club earlier this month.
"I want someone to explain to me where this shelf is, because I don't know".
While defence minister, Mr Dutton consistently hinted that Australia would be able to acquire its first nuclear-powered submarines earlier than the current expected time frame of the 2040s.
"We can acquire capability much sooner than what some of the pundits are projecting at the moment," he said.
