Australia formally signed a Aus$50 billion "strategic partnership" with France to build 12 state of the art submarines Monday, a signal of Canberra's willingness to project power across the Pacific. Prime Minister Scott Morrison hailed the "very audacious plan" at a ceremony in Canberra as "part of Australia's biggest ever peace-time investment in defence".

The partnership's main pillar is a contract for France's Naval Group - a consortium with state backing - to build 12 attack-class submarines and has been years in the making. At roughly US$35 billion this is Australia's largest ever defence procurement project and the largest ever foreign sales deal by French shipbuilder Naval Group.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019/