Australia to build nuclear submarines
ADELAIDE, Australia: Australia said Friday that a landmark deal to develop Aukus nuclear-powered submarines with London and Washington was “going to happen,” despite mounting fears about costs, capabilities, and the possible return of Donald Trump.
Aukus is the trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Under the fledgling Aukus deal, the three longtime allies have pledged to jointly beef up their military muscle in a bid to counter China’s rise.
Defense chiefs this week unveiled ambitious plans to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, a key pillar of the agreement.
“The three governments involved here are working at pace to make this happen,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters Friday.
“This is going to happen and we need it to happen,” he added.
Barely two years old, there are already signs that Aukus and its central project could be under threat.
Some fear Trump could jettison the pact if he wins this year’s presidential election, returning to his “America first” style of foreign policy.
With potential flashpoints emerging across the globe, and China taking an increasingly aggressive stance in the Taiwan Strait, visiting UK Defense Minister Grant Shapps said Aukus was as crucial as ever.
After decades of relative peace, Shapps said the planet was slowly shifting from a “post-war” era to a “pre-war” footing.
“We are living in more dangerous times,” he said during a tour of the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.
UK defense contractor BAE Systems has been enlisted to help construct Australia’s fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines.
Australia hopes to have eight nuclear-powered vessels in the water by the 2050s — a mix of the new Aukus-class subs built at home and in the UK, and Virgina-class vessels purchased from the United States.
Marles said a “drumbeat” of Aukus-class submarines would then continue to roll off Australian production lines “every few years” in perpetuity.
“There is no country in the world which has obtained the capability to build nuclear-powered submarines, which has then turned that capability off,” he said.
Although the financial details of the BAE deal are under wraps, Australian defense officials want to initially build at least five Aukusclass nuclear-powered subs at a cost of billions of dollars.
The subs will be quieter and stealthier than Australia’s existing diesel fleet, and capable of deploying over vast distances without surfacing, posing a potent threat to any foe.
BAE Systems, one of the largest defense contractors in Europe, said it was “already making good progress on the design and development of the next generation submarine.”
The company has a close relationship with the UK navy and is responsible for building its Astute-class and Dreadnought-class nuclear-powered vessels.
The scale of the project is vast, and questions have been raised about whether Australia — with limited nuclear experience and a relatively small navy — can pull it off.
In total, the Aukus submarine project could cost up to AU$368 billion ($240 billion) over the next 30 years.
In another development, Japan is expected to discuss cooperating on technology with the Aukus defense grouping at a summit in Washington next month, according to comments from a high-ranking US diplomat published in Japanese media on Friday.
The United States, Australia and Britain established the Aukus security partnership in 2021, aiming to jointly beef up their military muscle in a bid to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
Potential collaboration with Japan on Aukus’ technological goals will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets US President Joe Biden on April 10, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told the Nikkei business daily and other outlets.
“There are clearly areas that Japan could bring substantial capacity to bear in security and technological pursuits that advance common goals,” he said, according to the Nikkei.