If all goes well, the world will never know they've been and gone. It's the sort of scenario considered by defence planners constantly assessing the range of threats to Australia that might emerge in the region. They are charged with finding the resources and strategies to deal with them. A key part of that process was the decision to build a fleet of big, self-sufficient, conventionally powered submarines to give Australia the ability to defend itself at long range in an environment that could become volatile, uncertain and possibly nuclear. Of six submarines ordered in 1987, only three have been delivered to the navy.
None are fully operational.
However, the subs are plagued by problems that include unreliable diesel engines, excessive hull noise, cracking propellers, poor communication systems and a computerised combat system that is unlikely to ever work. Dr McIntosh rubbed extra salt into the wound with his observation that a child's Sony PlayStation would be more efficient and durable than some of the equipment aboard the submarines. The whole process and the publicity surrounding it have dismayed senior naval officers who say the project was so ambitious and complex that it was always going to be difficult. They say concerns about the problems have eclipsed the extraordinary achievements of Australian industry and science in building vessels that they insist are as good as the best conventional submarines in the world. Now they are fighting back.