France warns AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines plan will be 'difficult' for Australia

A senior French defence official has warned Australia that acquiring nuclear submarines will be "much more difficult" than scrapped plans to build 'classic submarines'. Following his talks with Australian Defence Force Chief General Angus Campbell, and Vice Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, the French military's Chief of Operations of the Joint Staff said that he had proposed to organise joint naval training drills as the two nations were looking to reset the ties, ABC News reported. Vice Admiral Nicolar Vaujour has arrived in Sydney for talks with Australian Defence Force Chief General Angus Campbell and other military leaders at the high-powered Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence (CHODs) Conference. 

Notably, Australia backed out of the deal with France to build submarines after the 'AUKUS' trilateral partnership with US and UK to acquire a nuclear-powered fleet. The decision affected the diplomatic ties of the two nations with French President Emmanuel Macron accusing former PM Scott Morrison of lying about the future of the deal. Vice Admiral Nicolas Vaujour said that the issue between France and Australia has been resolved with the compensation deal, as per the ABC News report. Vaujour insisted that he was "surprised" by the decision of Canberra to pull out of the deal with France and warned that the new AUKUS agreement will be "much more difficult to have that kind of asset than the classic submarine." He further emphasized that France was aware of the workforce and logistical challenges that were involved in the technology. Vice Admiral Nicolas Vaujour underscored that there is a "lot of challenge to having a nuclear submarine" and added that even though they remain in the sea for a longer period, they need to have "big industry supply chains" to keep the submarine operational. 

Australian PM meets French President Macron 

Earlier on July 1, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and French President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting in France. The two leaders met to reaffirm their commitment to building a "closer and stronger" bilateral relationship between France and Australia based on mutual trust and respect. Macron and Albanese agreed to establish a new agenda for cooperation based on three pillars - defence and security, resilience and climate action as well as education and culture, according to the joint statement by France and Australia. Both sides agreed to shape a new defence relationship and bolster the cooperation on shared security interests, including operational engagement and intelligence sharing. Macron and Albanese agreed to carry out more joint maritime activities in support of the rules-based global order. The meeting between the two leaders took place after the Australian government agreed to pay $835 million in compensation to the French shipbuilder Naval group after backing out of the deal to build 12 submarines, as per the ABC News report. In June, Australian PM Anthony Albanese said that the total expenditure on the submarines program stands at $3.4 billion. 

Image: AP