Took a look at some of the issues from down under the last couple days and had one bookmarked the day I watched it on Jan 3rd 2025 about the renewable energy issue(s) being experienced that although made sense to me. I'm sure would offend many member of this forum as incomplete. This one is about a secret, well it was brokered in secret, with implications and international intrigue that dates back to the last great war and agreements ratified at its conclusion up until present or at very least before this brokered deal. Just my take from what I've learned in the last few days. I hope it brings to light some facts and holds the here say to a minimum, for others to make their own of it. wiki AUKUS - Wikipedia !yt - an hour long
^ Saved for later. @ aukus A-UK-US was a 'thing' in 2021 after the folks down on Oz FINALLY realized they were getting......um.....'somewhat taken advantage of' by an unnamed nation that rhymes with 'Prance.' The Aussies are trying to develop an in-house boat building programme and the last time I thought about this subject they were trying to decide between the UK's Astute class or our own Virginia class of submarines. I think that they came up with some Rube-Goldberg scheme of taking delivery of two 'gently used' US Virginia class boats while they learn to build AND OPERATE their own boats. NUCULAR boats - and remember, OZ doesn't even believe in commercial nucular power - even though (I'm told) they have some significant uranium reserves. The clock has been ticking on the AUKUS thing since 2021 and I haven't really given it much thought since the US is experiencing a LOT of trouble with getting OUR boats into the fleet - so I have questions and doubts about us giving up two 20-year-old 774s when we still have 40-year-old boats that OUR sailors are riding down to test depth. We're well behind schedule getting OUR Virginia and Columbia class boats into our fleet, and some of the remaining Los Angeles boats are getting a little long in the tooth - to say nothing of the Ohios (In commission since 1981.) OTOH, submarines are built MUCH MUCH differently now than they were when John Phillip Holland was tinkering with them in 1900 - and the Aussies have an opportunity to white-sheet a new ship building facility from scratch and....we can use the additional hulls in WestPac!! If I were king for a day I would encourage the UK to become more involved in a 'mod Astute' hull with some of the Virginia's brown water capabilities, and see if we can get a shipyard going down in OZ using 2020's submarine building tech. It would be better for the A, the UK and the US.......AUKUS!
