Australia will not be able to maintain nuclear subs bought from US, says ex-PM

Malcolm Turnbull signed a deal with France’s president Emmanuel Macron to buy a fleet of submarines (Brendan Esposito/via AP)

The former Australian prime minister who signed the now-cancelled French submarine deal has questioned whether Australia could safely maintain a fleet powered by US nuclear technology.

Malcolm Turnbull made the £48 billion deal in 2016 with French majority state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines.