ThyssenKrupp Says Still in Race for Australian Submarine Deal
05 Februar 2016 - 5:10AM
Dow Jones News
German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH says it
remains solidly in the running for one of the world's biggest
current defense contracts, as Australia edges closer to a decision
on a multibillion-dollar submarine fleet replacement.
With the over 20 billion Australian dollar (US$14.4 billion)
contest between Japan, Germany and France turning increasingly
bitter amid sniping between bid rivals, ThyssenKrupp Australia
Chairman John White said recent Japanese media reports—citing
unidentified sources—that the Germans had effectively been ruled
out amid concerns about their ability to build larger submarines
were wrong.
"ThyssenKrupp have built almost two-thirds of the world's diesel
electric submarines in the last 50 years," Mr. White said, while
acknowledging that Canberra's ambitions for the project posed
technical hurdles for all three bidders. "For [anonymous]
competitors to say ThyssenKrupp is having troubles is not really
worthy even of a comment."
Australia's submarine replacement is being closely followed in
Washington, with the U.S. said to be keen for Australia to team up
with Japan in a deal that would also help solidify defense ties
between all three countries in the face of a more muscular
China.
While the Pentagon is officially agnostic on the selection
process being run by a close ally, the national security adviser to
Australia's former conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Andrew
Shearer, wrote in a recent foreign policy article that U.S.
officials privately believed the Japanese Soryu submarine was
"superior".
ThyssenKrupp is offering its new Type 216 submarine, designed to
meet Australian requirements that include long-range capability and
endurance to suit the country's vast ocean territory. It is up
against a conventional version of the 4,700-metric-ton Barracuda,
built by France's DCNS, and Japan's 4,700-ton Soryu-class
submarine, which is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and
Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corp. and is viewed as the front-runner.
With a proven design, Japan is strongly favored to win a contest
that would mark its emergence as a major weapons exporter for the
first time since World War II, although a deal aligning Tokyo more
closely with Canberra would also risk riling Beijing, which
receives around a third of Australian exports.
Senior defense and political figures familiar with the contract
process backed Mr. White's assessment that the contest was still a
three-way race after talks this week in Canberra between Australian
officials and ThyssenKrupp Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger and
Marine Systems Chairman Hans Atzpodien.
"The process is still as open as the seas they'll be
patrolling," said one lawmaker who has been closely following the
selection for a project that will be worth A$30 billion in
maintenance on top of the A$20 billion construction contract.
Senior DCNS officials will arrive in Canberra next week to push
their competing bid, with the French promising to deliver more
advanced boats than those it is already constructing for India.
"If you look at the other submarines, they also involve changes
to their designs that arguably are even more challenging," he said.
"We are completely confident that the process is being run in a
professional and rigorous way."
In a soon-to-be-released defense policy paper, Malcolm
Turnbull's government is expected to cut the size of the order to
eight submarines, from 12 originally, as Australia's
resources-focused economy reels from falling commodity prices and a
sharp slowdown in mining investment.
Write to Rob Taylor at rob.taylor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2016 22:55 ET (03:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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