In a statement issued on Thursday, Naval Group had described the Australian decision as a 'major disappointment'. The Attack class submarines were intended to be among the most advanced conventional submarines in the world, meant for long-range missions and featuring weapons for anti-ship, anti-submarine and land-attack missions. All the ships were to be built at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia. The Shortfin Barracuda project was christened the 'Attack' class submarine programme in the Royal Australian Navy.

The contract was one of the largest military export deals at the time. The French company had offered the Royal Australian Navy a new class of submarine called the Shortfin Barracuda, that was derived from the French Navy's new class of nuclear-powered submarines. In 2016, the government of Malcolm Turnbull selected French state-owned company DCNS (now known as Naval Group) to build 12 submarines for the Royal Australian Navy at an estimated cost of US $40 billion. This deal has been invalidated with the announcement of AUKUS. While France has been among the nations that have stepped up military deployments to the Indo-Pacific to counter China, Paris had also signed a massive contract to supply the Royal Australian Navy a fleet of 12 cutting-edge diesel-electric submarines. However, one western nation has responded angrily to the announcement: France. The alliance is being seen as a response to growing Chinese forays into the Indo-Pacific region. The Royal Australian Navy has, to date, only operated conventional diesel-electric submarines.

The alliance will involve the three nations working together on areas such as artificial intelligence and long-range strike capabilities and the US and UK sharing technology with Australia to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

Australia, the UK and the US early on Thursday launched a trilateral security partnership called AUKUS.

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