法國DCNS贏得澳大利亞潛艇合同
DCNS of France has beaten competitors from Japan and Germany to win a A$50bn politically charged contract to build a new fleet of 12 submarines for the Australian navy.
法國DCNS擊敗日本和德國的競爭對手，贏得了一份500億澳元的、充滿政治色彩的合同，將爲澳大利亞海軍新建12艘潛艇。
Tuesday’s announcement of DCNS as preferred bidder deals a blow to Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, who lobbied hard for a contract that would have boosted defence ties with Canberra and bolstered plans to build an arms export industry.
週二傳出的DCNS成爲首選投標人的消息，對日本首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)是一次打擊。安倍此前曾爲贏得這份合同努力遊說。如果日方中標，不但可以促進日本與澳大利亞的防務關係，還能提振日本打造武器出口產業的計劃。
Insiders in the bidding process believe Japan’s bid failed mainly due to concerns over the ability of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries to transfer technology to Australia, where the submarines will be built, and its lack of a record on delivering big defence export projects.
參與招投標過程的內部人士認爲，日方競標失敗的主要原因在於，澳方擔心三菱重工(Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)和川崎重工(Kawasaki Heavy Industries)是否能向其轉讓技術（潛艇將在澳大利亞建造），而且日方沒有交付大型防務出口項目的經驗。
Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, said the decision to build a new fleet of submarines in partnership with DCNS represented “a momentous national endeavour”.
澳大利亞總理馬爾科姆•特恩布爾(Malcolm Turnbull)表示，與DCNS合作打造一支新潛艇艦隊的決定，代表着“一項重大的國家努力”。
The French presidency described the contract win as “historic”.
法國總統辦公室稱，此次中標具有“歷史性”意義。
Australia’s replacement of its existing submarine fleet is part of an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region led by China, which is expanding its capability across the region. Defence spending in Asia in 2014 was A$439bn (US$338bn), surpassing spending in Europe, according to Australia’s defence white paper released this year.
澳大利亞對該國現有潛艇艦隊的更新，是中國帶頭搞的亞太軍備競賽的組成部分。中國正在整個亞太地區擴大自己的軍事能力。澳大利亞今年發佈的防務白皮書顯示，2014年亞洲防務開支超過了歐洲，達到4390億澳元（合3380億美元）。
Under the winning French bid, DCNS will build 12 Shortfin Barracuda submarines for the Australian navy and help maintain them over half a century.
依據中標的法方競標方案，DCNS將爲澳大利亞海軍建造12艘“短鰭梭魚”(Shortfin Barracuda)潛艇，並提供50年保養服務。
The new vessel, a conventional diesel-powered submarine using a pump-jet propulsion system, draws on the design of France’s existing Barracuda-class nuclear submarine. It represents the first time Paris will share this stealth technology (which is quieter than a traditional propeller) for submarines with another country, said DCNS.
這批新潛艇爲常規柴油動力潛艇，採用泵噴推進系統，設計上借鑑了法國現有的“梭魚”（Barracuda class，見下圖）級核潛艇。DCNS表示，這將是法國政府首次將這種潛艇隱形技術分享給他國。泵噴推進比傳統的螺旋槳推進更安靜。
Japan had been in pole position to win the submarine contract before Tony Abbott was ousted as prime minister by Malcolm Turnbull in September. Mr Abbott had envisaged Australia buying Japan’s Soryu class submarine in a bid to deepen strategic and defence ties with Tokyo at a politically tense time in the Asia-Pacific region.
去年9月，特恩布爾取代託尼•阿博特(Tony Abbott)成爲澳大利亞總理。阿博特下臺前，日方曾在這份潛艇合同的競標中處於領先位置。按照阿博特的設想，澳大利亞應購買日本的蒼龍級(Soryu class)潛艇，以便在亞太政治緊張之際深化與日本的戰略和防務關係。
People close to Japan’s bid said failure after spending so long as apparent frontrunner would be a source of “considerable personal embarrassment” to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and that Tokyo and the companies involved would now enter a period of “blame and recrimination” as each party sought to evade culpability.
熟悉日方競標情況的人士稱，日方在扮演了這麼長時間明面上的領跑者後受挫，將給日本首相安倍晉三個人制造“很大的尷尬”，日本政府和相關企業現在將進入“埋怨和反責”期，因爲各方都力求撇清責任。
