Australia to buy nuclear submarines from U.S.

SYDNEY — Australia will buy up to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the United States to be delivered in the 2030s, according to people briefed on the deal, which accelerates and deepens an ambitious defense agreement aimed at reinforcing U.S.-led military dominance of the Asia-Pacific region to counter China’s military growth.

Australia would then buy a new class of submarines with British designs and U.S. technology in another stage of the deal. The arrangement — which would also include rotating U.S. attack submarines through Perth, in Western Australia, by 2027 — adds new details and complexities to a 2021 security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States, known as AUKUS.

Nuclear submarines can stay underwater longer and travel farther than conventional submarines without surfacing. They are the headline items of the deal, which also includes long-term plans to cooperate on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyberwarfare and missiles.

President Joe Biden plans to host the leaders of Australia and Britain in San Diego on Monday, when they will announce the next phase of the AUKUS partnership.

While the goal is deterrence, one danger is that China will view the AUKUS weapons arrangements as a provocative move by the United States and its allies to constrain China by any means necessary — and prepare for potential war. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, might then rush advances of his military, as well as take more aggressive actions in the region to ready for an armed conflict.

However, U.S. intelligence agencies have not been able to determine Xi’s exact intentions.