Australia said on Thursday it would spend billions on docks, shipyards and factories at home and in Britain to build nuclear-powered submarines as part of the AUKUS security pact, and named British company BAE Systems to help build the boats, AP News reports.
The announcement came a day after the two countries signed a defence and security pact to better counter challenges such as China’s increased activity in the South China Sea and South Pacific. The submarine building programme is very costly but necessary, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
“Nuclear-powered submarines are not cheap, but we live in a much more dangerous world where we are seeing a much more assertive region with China, a much more dangerous world all around with what’s happening in the Middle East and Europe. Countries need to invest in making sure that adversaries see we are serious about our security, defending freedom of navigation, for example.”
A ten-year agreement was announced at the annual ministerial meeting to increase capacity at the Rolls-Royce plant in Derby, UK, to build the nuclear reactors that will power the submarines being built by BAE Systems in Adelaide, Australia.
The Virginia-class submarines will be largely British-designed and will carry US weapons systems.
The agreement shows that the nuclear submarine construction programme will be delivered and creates new production capabilities for the AUKUS partners, i.e. the Australia, UK and US groups, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said. He also told reporters Friday at the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide:
“These are big foundational decisions which demonstrate that the pathway to Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability under the banner of AUKUS is happening, and the result of that right here is going to be the most advanced manufacturing in the nation and one of the most advanced manufacturing production lines in the world.”
Under the AUKUS agreement, Australia will acquire at least three US nuclear submarines in the early 2030s. A joint trilateral statement from Marles, Shapps and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday:
“Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States remain fully committed to this shared endeavor. These steps to grow Australia’s submarine construction and maintenance capability are critical to the AUKUS partnership, expanding trilateral industrial capacity and building the collective resilience of AUKUS partners to produce and sustain conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines for decades to come.”
