While Australia’s Trump damaged US alliance shifts to a Biden Administration Australia is again wringing its hands over “What Can We Do Against The China Threat?”
WHAT AUSTRALIA SHOULD DO
Fortunately Australia is buying the first diesel version of the French Barracuda SSN.
French Barracuda SSNs are relatively small and cheap compared to larger, more expensive, US observance of NPT blocked, US/UK SSNs.
The Australian public is Not Yet ready to OK Australia purchasing the French Barracuda Nuclear Propelled submarine but will be by 2030, by which time:
(A) the Chinese threat will create sufficient fear.
(B) Australia will have started building 4 diesel Barracudas (known as Attack class) from the early 2030s. There will be time to modify the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Attack class subs to the original Barracuda NUCLEAR propelled baseline and arm them with nuclear warhead cruise missiles (N-SLCMs?).
(C) If Australia sticks with the French Nuclear path the next 4 subs could be nuclear armed ballistic missile (SLBM) firing submarines, known as SSBNs. Fortunately France already has new SSBNs on the drawing board, known as SNLE 3G, to be built in France from the 2030s.
Note that France has a track record of helping Israel build a nuclear weapons establishment and Jericho MRBM/IRBMsto carry them. France then conducted Joint Nuclear Tests with Israel in the Sahara and Pacific.
From the early 2020s until the mid 2030s the US will likely decide that Australia switching such vast $ sums and a nuclear future to a French alliance is disturbing for America's military industrial complex and the US Indo-Pacific alliance.
The USA will be far more attentive and forthcoming with nuclear weapons for us - its Australian ally.
(D) If you want to get a "new idea" read an "old book", like the following article on Australian Prime Minister John Gorton's AUSTRALIAN NUCLEAR DETERRENT at http://www.smh.com.au/national/when-australia-had-a-bombshell-for-us-20080705-32ai.html