Quite underwhelming is the (current) Australian Government's not very original naming of the Australian Future Submarine as the "Attack class".
This will cause future confusion as the world's most common submarines (conventional or nuclear) are, after all, attack submarines. Whenever attack submarine is mentioned it may be necessary to distinguish between Australia 12 future Attack submarines and the world's 300 odd already existing attack submarines.
Perhaps this most mundane name may have been chosen because the (current) Australian Coalition Government may have had to agree the name with the replacement Australian Labor Party (very likely coming to power in May 2019). "Attack" being a very low common denominator.
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Here is the December 13, 2018 Media Release of the (current) Defence Minister naming Attack. Significantly, he also adds, in a low key way, something more important:
COMMENT
The ability of the current Defence Minister to sign the SPA before the May 11 or 18, 2019 Elections may be curtailed because the Coalition Government has a minority in both Houses of Parliament. That is Australia's Federal Parliament is double "Hung". (Current) Defence Minister Pyne is unusually reliant on consensus from the Labor Party Opposition concerning the terms of the revised SPA.
Details of Coalition Government's minority weakness are that it has, in the:
- Senate (see right sidebar ) only a minority, 31 of 76 seats, and
- House of Representatives (see right sidebar ) only a minority, 73 of 150 seats.
This means the current Government may be forced out of office if the Opposition Labor Party and Crossbenchers decide to block the Budget "Supply" Bills in April 2019 .
Pete
This will cause future confusion as the world's most common submarines (conventional or nuclear) are, after all, attack submarines. Whenever attack submarine is mentioned it may be necessary to distinguish between Australia 12 future Attack submarines and the world's 300 odd already existing attack submarines.
Perhaps this most mundane name may have been chosen because the (current) Australian Coalition Government may have had to agree the name with the replacement Australian Labor Party (very likely coming to power in May 2019). "Attack" being a very low common denominator.
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Here is the December 13, 2018 Media Release of the (current) Defence Minister naming Attack. Significantly, he also adds, in a low key way, something more important:
“I can also announce the negotiations between the Commonwealth and Naval Group on all key provisions of the Strategic Partnering Agreement (SPA) have been completed,” [then why not sign NOW?] Minister Pyne said.
“I congratulate everyone involved in achieving this significant milestone.”
The SPA will be signed in early 2019 and will govern the delivery of the Attack class over the decades to come...."
The ability of the current Defence Minister to sign the SPA before the May 11 or 18, 2019 Elections may be curtailed because the Coalition Government has a minority in both Houses of Parliament. That is Australia's Federal Parliament is double "Hung". (Current) Defence Minister Pyne is unusually reliant on consensus from the Labor Party Opposition concerning the terms of the revised SPA.
Details of Coalition Government's minority weakness are that it has, in the:
- Senate (see right sidebar ) only a minority, 31 of 76 seats, and
- House of Representatives (see right sidebar ) only a minority, 73 of 150 seats.
This means the current Government may be forced out of office if the Opposition Labor Party and Crossbenchers decide to block the Budget "Supply" Bills in April 2019 .
Pete