From what I'm hearing on the grape vine France is Royally P**ssed off, yes i can understand why however they have to bear some of the blame here.
A deal was signed in 2016 for a projected $35bn in 2021 that cost was now slated at $90bn.
In that time there has been some work granted however Australia gave France an ultimatum back in about March that if they saw no results by September they would pull the plug.
Which is what they did.
France has over run on design phase, that means delivery will be late, that also means costs go up, and from 2016 to today there's little to show for the money already spent.
I believe it was 2011 (might be wrong) but Australia did approach France about nuclear reactor technology transfer and the French declined the deal.
Realistically the French bid was not the best bid in a technical sense, it lacked submerged endurance of the type 212, didn't have the power capacity of the Soryu but what it did have was most certainly something the Australians wanted the most which was to have it built in Australia and that's why they won the bid.
When it comes to the EU I cannot trust their foreign policy, the EU have been very accommodating to China and indeed Russia over the last decade.
The EU wants its own defense force which it clearly stated in the 1998 st malo treaty that was the pre text for what was to come.
The EU doesn't want tension in the Pacific it wants to appease China, a dangerous game as we all know what happened last time re 1930's
In all of this Marie Le Pen could be elected and if so I know she wants France out of the EU and that would be a good thing, the Dutch are also on that tipping point, the Greeks and Italians are not very fond of the EU either.
France has been a dubious ally in the past it has flip flopped in and out of NATO, they don't care to assist others, the UK's CASD is designed to protect not just the UK but also our NATO partners in Europe this includes France, yet France does not reciprocate.
More recently having dealt with the Mali problems, France requested UK assistance in the region, we reluctantly accepted and then they tried to send us the bill ! note they got told to swiftly jog on. (I did help in some of this program)
From a few sources I have the Suffren isn't what its made out to be it falls quite a bit short in some areas, but is very good in others, one notable source of mine stated "the sonar leaves a lot to be desired"
Suffren is quiet and uses advanced technologies yet in some areas is antiquated. (thats not a bad thing BTW our Trafalgars use an autopilot system that dates to 1944)
Suffren IMO and several other sources I have note that both Virginia and Astute would be able to find her and take her out before she could respond (This is from USN Norwegian and RN sources I have)
Could France have sold the Suffren to Australia ? yes and to be honest it probably would have been a good deal.
Australia getting SSN's I do have to admit I never thought it would come given their historic anti nuclear policy (yet being one of the largest uranium producers in the world) therefore I didn't see that coming.
Does a SSN make sense for Australia given the region and area they operate plus what their goals are it makes perfect logical sense.
I will leave you with this, Pay very close attention to the defense white paper in 2025 it may surprise you
