Originally Posted by
asiafever
Australia gaining nuclear powered submarines is only a small but sexy part of the story. Remembering that nuclear powered subs are not nuclear weaponised subs, it makes us one of only 7 countries with nuclear subs and the ones we are getting are top shelf. 8 subs would give us roughly half the fleet China currently has (US has roughly 70, dwarfing the rest of the world's fleet combined).
The real story that has been overlooked is that the treaty is about sharing military technologies, and we are about to gain air and sea launched cruise missiles. Some with long range capabilities, meaning from our far north Straits of Malacca and the South China sea will be reachable.
Now much has been made of China having the biggest navy by number of craft, roughly 700 ships. Most of these have a range of about 1000-1500km from base so no long range capability. If you look at the gross tonnage of their fleet it is 4-5 times smaller than America's and only about the size of a combined Japan and India. China is 100% dependant on imported raw materials and foreign markets, and the shipping routes are the only way to access these in the volumes required. For us to have access to weapons we can lob in to the most important route, the maritime Silk Road if you like, with India guarding the Indian ocean, the US dominating the Pacific and a ring of small countries that punch well above their weight in Korea, Japan and Taiwan (All of who have invested heavily in defence systems to protect against Chinese Air Force and missile threats), China is now surrounded, and we are now one of only 3 countries that can cripple these Chinese supply lines from beyond the range of the majority of their forces, and thus cripple their economic and political system if push comes to shove.
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