Wong, Sen Penny

Senator WONG: What I don't understand is: we are going down the nuclear propulsion path for sound capability imperatives, right? But we are now saying that we will have an even older submarine, which, presumably, in terms of the vulnerabilities associated with their capability, will be—I will rephrase. Australia has chosen to explore the nuclear propulsion path because of a capability imperative—that is, diesel submarines, given the circumstances, don't have the capability required and potentially are more vulnerable. But you're suggesting that we would use even older submarines than the ones we were going to buy, because they weren't sufficiently capable, out to mid-century. How vulnerable will they be? Vice Adm. Noonan : That's a hypothetical situation.