SSN Proliferation
By 
Some thoughts at 1945 on the potential proliferation of nuclear attack submarines…
But several other countries around the world now have difficult decisions to make about their submarine fleets. Brazil is already constructing a nuclear attack submarine with French assistance, a decision that may have influenced Australian thinking. South Korea, Japan, and Canada all have difficult decision to make about the future of their submarine programs. While South Korea and Japan are in less demanding “tyranny of distance” situations than Australia, it is not at all difficult to imagine scenarios in which either could benefit from the long-range presence that only an SSN can offer.
Brazil’s SSN is already under construction with the support of France. I’d expect South Korea will be the next domino to fall. Canada is in some ways the most interesting case, as the RCN has come very close (twice) to adopting plans to acquire nuclear attack boats. The procurement environment in Canada isn’t particularly propitious to SSNs at the moment, however, because of tight budgets and an overhang of the existing conventional boats.