Australia plans to spend A$89 billion (US$64.9 billion) on ships and submarines for its navy over the next 20 years, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday, A$40 billion of which has been earmarked to build surface ships domestically.
Two naval shipbuilding programs, the A$20 billion SEA5000 Future Frigate project and the SEA1180 Offshore Patrol Vessels, would be brought forward to guarantee the continuous domestic construction of surface warships, Abbott said.
Abbott, who is facing intense pressure from within his conservative Liberal Party to ensure that an A$50 billion stealth submarine program is built domestically, said the move would save about 1,000 jobs.
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The winner of the lucrative submarine bid, Australia’s biggest-ever defense procurement deal and one of the world’s most lucrative defense contracts, would be considered separately as part of a competitive evaluation process.
“The fundamental thing that we have done today is ensure that we do not just have a ship build in Australia, we have a fleet build in Australia,” Abbott told reporters in Adelaide.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp AG (TKMS), France’s state-controlled naval contractor DCNS and a Japanese government consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are bidding for the submarine contract.
TKMS is wooing anxious members of the government with the economic and political benefits of its proposal amid concerns that awarding the contract overseas could result in major political repercussions.
A Japanese government team is in talks with Britain’s Babcock International Group and BAE Systems, in response to Australia’s desire to have as much domestic participation in the project as possible.
Abbott is also eager to deepen security ties with Japan, reflecting a US desire for its two allies to take a bigger security role in Asia as China’s military might grows.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number