According to the AUKUS agreement on September 15, 2021, France is still dissatisfied with Australia’s cancellation of the US$59 billion Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarine deal and opted out of nuclear-powered conventional weapon attacks or SSN submarines with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Although Paris may have legitimate reasons to be dissatisfied with Australia’s violation of the submarine agreement, the new situation in the Indo-Pacific region clearly shows that the AIP submarine under the leadership of all powerful President Xi Jinping is a kind of halfway abandonment to contain the belligerent China. Measures. Especially considering the strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific and South China Sea, Australia’s choice of SSN is definitely a better choice to deal with the rapid growth of the PLA Navy and China’s medium-range ballistic missile arsenal.
With such a strategic situation, India has no choice but to choose long-range nuclear-powered submarines and delivery platforms, because it is only a matter of time before the Chinese aircraft carrier patrols the Indian Ocean. Two nuclear submarines are already in service, the third is under construction, and India is also building leverage to prevent the People’s Liberation Army from deciding on powerful weapons and tactics on the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC), as it did in May 2020 That way. The noise of Australia disrupting the French submarine deal is not difficult to understand why Canberra decided on the nuclear option, because it is a deterrent to Taiwan’s ambitions. Today, the signing of the security treaty that was once opponents of World War II by Japan and Australia, with the integration of Indo-Pacific as the bottom line, is also a step in the direction of requiring China to mend its aggression. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that the agreement “will consolidate broader and more complex physical contacts between the Australian Defense Force and the Japanese Self-Defense Force.” Putting the new security agreement with AUKUS and Quad together, the Indo-Pacific region emerges To create a bigger picture, India has signed logistics agreements with all Quad partners.
Rather than looking at AUKUS from a French commercial perspective, the Australian nuclear-powered conventional attack submarine will be a response to the PLA’s large-scale deployment of DF-21 and DF-26 series ballistic missiles on the east coast of China to prevent US aircraft carriers from entering China. The South China Sea is in the worst case over Taiwan. In view of the range of these ballistic missiles, the US aircraft carrier force will have to operate outside the first island chain after China, otherwise it will become the crosshair of these PLA delivery platforms. Although the United States and Russia have been bound by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty since 1987, before the suspension in 2019, the People’s Liberation Army had established a huge arsenal of intermediate-range ballistic missiles. 26 Known as the carrier killer and Guam killer weapon.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
