ScoMo seals deal to build nuke subs
AUSTRALIA will build nuclear-powered submarines as part of the most significant deal ever signed with the US and UK, aimed squarely at countering China’s expanding military-based coercion through the Pacific region.
For the past 18 months, a small hand-picked team of Australian defence officials including ADF chief General Angus Campbell has been meeting quietly with American and British counterparts to create AUKUS, branded the “next generation” trilateral pact.
The result was a stunning deal announced on Thursday morning by US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, flagged as the most significant signing since World War II.
As part of the pact, the US will share its nuclear technology – one of the US military’s most sought after and guarded secrets – with Australia to build eight new nuclear-powered submarines, to be constructed mostly in South Australia and WA but with electronic and specialist components coming from other states.
The shift means with “immediate effect”, Australia will dump the 2016 $80bn deal it signed with France to build a conventional submarine fleet.
The French are reportedly furious with the move but Mr Morrison, in direct talks with President Emmanuel Macron, made clear it was nothing personal but that the “strategic outlook” had changed, which made the French conventional subs redundant to Australian needs.
The first rivet for the French Barracuda Attack Class vessels had yet to be struck, with the program plagued with delays and challenges. It had already incurred significant costs and the end of the deal is likely to cost even more in compensation, with France still considering that penalty figure.
The AUKUS pact will now open the door to Australia acquiring a lot of other hardware including Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, long-range anti-ship missiles and precision strike and defence technology for land forces.
The changed strategic outlook has been the assertive and unrelenting military push by China into the Indo-Pacific region, not just with the building of military island fortresses in the South China Sea but through threats against Taiwan and Japan, intimidation of the Philippines and Vietnam and the debt-trap diplomacy push with Pacific island nations.
New Zealand was left out of the AUKUS pact largely because of its antinuclear stance and its soft posturing with China even after it introduced trade blocks and tariffs against more than a dozen Australian exports from wine to wheat, meat and coal.
The AUKUS will not extend to nuclear weapons, nor will it require any civil nuclear infrastructure, with the nuclear component powering the submarine to be contained and sealed; Australia’s non-nuclear international proliferation treaty which it helped design will not need to be altered. That should appease those who fear Australia ever becoming a nuclear state.
Mr Biden thanked that “fellow Down Under”, seemingly momentarily forgetting Mr Morrison’s name.
“We’re taking another historic step to deepen and formalise co-operation among all three of our nations, because we all recognise the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long-term.
“This is about investing in our greatest source of strength, our alliances, and updating them to better meet the threats of today and tomorrow.”
The nations will take the next 18 months to work out how the tech will be shared, with the first Australian nuclear-powered submarine expected to be in the water by the end of the decade.