French Naval Group to invoice Australia for abruptly cancelling submarine contract, says CEO
France has said Australian military officials sent them a letter confirming they were “extremely satisfied” with French submarines just hours before they announced the €56bn (£48bn) contract would be cancelled in favour of a US, UK and Australia defence pact.
The submarines crisis – in which France said it was “stabbed in the back” by the sudden announcement of a deal between the US, Australia and the UK to form an Indo-Pacific security group – had plunged the Paris-Washington relationship into its most acute crisis since the US-led invasion of Iraq.