By Alex Clarke
Dear all, for this Bilge Pumps we apologize in advance for the amount of Australian in this podcast. We may mention the Collins-class replacement to Jamie, we may have had a bottle of irn bru riding on how long he could talk on it for and we may or may not have come up with a solution to several problems.
So with the warning out of the way, please sit back and enjoy some Bilge Pumps as your regular crew of Alex, Drach, and Jamie take a canter through the topics suggested, some of the topics that will feature this year, and some of the current events of the last couple of weeks.
#Bilgepumps is still a newish series and new avenue, which may no longer boast the new car smell, in fact decidedly more of pineapple/irn bru smell with a hint of jaffa cake and the faintest whiff of cork. But we’re getting the impression it’s liked, so we’d very much like any comments, topic suggestions or ideas for artwork to be tweeted to us, the #Bilgepump crew (with #Bilgepumps), at Alex (@AC_NavalHistory), Drach (@Drachinifel), and Jamie (@Armouredcarrier). Or you can comment on our Youtube channels (listed down below).
Bilge Pumps Episode 34: The Challenge of Replacement – Biden & Collins
Links
1. Dr. Alex Clarke’s Youtube Channel
2. Drachinifel’s Youtube Channel
3. Jamie Seidel’s Youtube Channel
Alex Clarke is the producer of The Bilge Pumps podcast.
Contact the CIMSEC podcast team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on Australia buying into the Virginia SSN program. Granted it’s nuclear, but the US is building enough boats to allow an F-35-like business model to leave all that infrastructure in the US. Australia could build some non-nuclear components of every sub to balance the economic benefit, send the reactor crew to the US for training, and let the US handle the eventual nuclear disposal to get nuclear subs without needing a nuclear industry. Costs should also be lower and deliveries can start much sooner since the production line is hot, and there’s basically no technical risk since they’re in service and performing well.
Granted politics could be an issue since it does require exporting a reactor, but the US will save money thanks to the economy of scale, create more industrial capacity for a further increased build rate, gain the strategic benefit of having more friendly SSNs to push back on China, and essentially guarantee the US-Australia alliance remains strong for decades so it might be possible.