An anonymous reader writes: Australia resides in a tough neighborhood. China is rising and building weapons that soon will have the ability to hit most targets in Asia thanks to advances in ballistic and cruise missiles. At the same time, Australia sells China a ton of natural resources--making Beijing its largest trading partner. So needless to say Australia needs to hedge its bets. Other nations around the region are building advanced, conventional arms as fast as possible. But they are also working together to develop systems that can compete with China just in case conflict did ever occur. It seems Australia will be buying Japanese submarines--some of the most advanced in the world.
The deal looks promising, and much more affordable than a domestic solution while Australia gets one of the worlds most advanced subs:
"By all accounts, Australia will be getting a good deal. At roughly $1.87 billion dollars each, the Soryu-class submarines are a bargain against Future Submarine Program projections of $3 to $5 billion each. Yet the decision to buy Japanese is a politically risky one for the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott. A survey by the Australian Industry Group estimated a next Australia generation submarine program would employ “about 5,000 workers and 1,000 Australian businesses”.