The Germans produced Das Boot, one of the greatest war films ever made, but it wasn't quite enough to win them the $50-billion contract to build Australia's next fleet of submarines.
The French company DCNS has beaten competitors from Germany and Japan to build twelve sous-marins to replace the Royal Australian Navy's ageing Collins Class fleet.
Evidence now mounting shows that the submarine tender was one of the most irregular ever conducted in Australia. Defence officials in the US, Japan and Germany believe that the French tender was priced at approximately double that of rival tenders from Japan and Germany. So Australia will pay at least $40 billion and more likely $50bn for 12 submarines, when both the Japanese and German tenders were for around $20bn. Taking the highest tender makes a complete mockery of the tender process and makes us look like a third-world laughing stock. Read more here.
I can almost hear the unsuccessful German bidders mumble, "Oui are not amused!"
