UK, US and Oz in multi-billion nuclear sub deal
BRITAIN’S fleet of nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarines could be doubled as part of a landmark deal with the US and Australia.
Rishi Sunak last night confirmed a multibillion-pound deal with the two allies to help develop and build the vessels after meeting US President Joe Biden and Australian PM Anthony Albanese at a naval base in California.
The initiative represents some of the first concrete steps taken by the three nations to strengthen the Aukus strategic partnership they announced 18 months ago.
It will see Britain and the US supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, enhancing its ability to counter the threat posed by China’s growing military ambitions.
As part of the deal, British military chiefs are pushing to increase the size of the UK’s hunter-killer submarine fleet from seven to as many as 20.
The move came as Mr Sunak warned the UK faces a ‘difficult and dangerous decade’ as authoritarian states such as Russia, China and Iran flex their muscles.
A government source acknowledged the assessment in the new Integrated Review of foreign and security policy was ‘gloomy’ but said it was right to ‘level with people’ about the fact the world has become a more dangerous place.
The Aukus deal is a major coup for British engineering and is expected to create thousands of jobs over the coming years at Barrow, Cumbria, where the UK’s submarines are built, and at Derby, where Rolls-Royce designs and manufactures nuclear submarine reactors.
Speaking at the Point Loma naval base in San Diego last night, the Prime Minister said the deal made reality John F Kennedy’s dream of a West united in ‘a higher purpose – the maintenance of freedom, peace and… security’.
He said the three allies ‘who have shed blood together in defence of our shared values’ had come together again to agree ‘the most significant multilateral defence partnership in generations’. He added: ‘The Aukus partnership, and the submarines we are building in British shipyards, are a tangible demonstration of our commitment to global security.’
The Aukus pact was created in 2021 to strengthen defence ties and bolster the West’s presence in the Indo-Pacific, where China is a growing threat.
The Australian navy is expected to buy five Virginia-class submarines from the US in the short term. But from the early 2030s Britain and Australia will build an updated version of the British Astute class submarine.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: ‘This is a significant step forward for our three nations as we work together to contribute to security in the IndoPacific and across the world.’ President Biden said the UK, US and Australia had ‘for more than a century stood together to protect freedom and democracy’.