Despite taking years to be fully realised, the deal marks an
ambitious shift for the three allied nations as they seek to respond to
Beijing’s rapidly expanding military power in the Pacific. India and Japan are not included in the deal.
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Australia to buy three nuclear subs under AUKUS pact: White House
"The leaders of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia have announced that Australia will buy three American nuclear submarines under a new trilateral security pact during a meeting in California.
✓ Australia will also have the option to purchase two more of the nuclear submarines after the initial deal, which is slated for the early 2030s, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a joint statement on Monday.
The gathering comes 18 months after the creation of the new pact, known as AUKUS, which enables Australia to access nuclear-powered submarine technology and is aimed at preserving a “free and open” Indo Pacific.
While China only received glancing reference on Monday, the security agreement is part of an ongoing effort by the three nations to respond to Beijing’s growing military might. It includes commitment to cooperate on building artificial intelligence capabilities, hypersonic weapons and other advanced technologies.
#AUKUS — the enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the U.S. — demonstrates our shared commitment to revitalizing our partnerships and strengthening them to take on the challenges of the 21st century. pic.twitter.com/1L6foumDwI
— Department of State (@StateDept) March 13, 2023
Speaking from Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, Biden called the moment: “An inflection point in history, where the hard work of enhancing deterrence and promoting stability is going to affect the prospect of peace for decades to come”.
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“I’m proud to be your shipmates,” Biden told British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
✓ Albanese, in turn, noted it was “the first time in 65 years and only the second time in history that the United States has shared its nuclear propulsion technology, and we thank you for it”.
✓ Meanwhile, Sunak cited growing challenges “including Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, China’s growing assertiveness, and destabilising behavior of Iran and North Korea”.
“Faced with this new reality, it is more important than ever, that we strengthen the resilience of our own countries,” he said. “But ultimately, the defense of our values depends, as it always has, on the quality of our relationships with others.”
✓ For its part, Beijing has repeatedly accused the AUKUS trio of adopting a “Cold War mentality” that risks greater escalation in the region.
The sale announced on Monday is part of a long-term, multistage plan destined to make Australia a full partner in fielding top-secret US nuclear technology previously only shared with the UK.
✓ In the short term, Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with the US and UK navies and at nuclear submarine bases in the countries, the countries said in a joint leaders statement.
✓ The US and UK will also increase nuclear submarine stops at Australian ports in the coming years, before beginning more substantial forward rotations in Australia.
The moves will be part of decade-long effort to help Australia develop “the infrastructure, technical capabilities, industry and human capital” needed to operate and develop their own submarine.
By the “early 2030s” and pending US Congressional approval, Washington will then sell three Virginia-class submarines, which have an estimated value of $3bn each, to Australia, according to the plan released by the three countries.
Meanwhile, Australia and Britain will embark on building a new submarine model with US technology and support, with the UK expected to deliver its first home-built nuclear submarine by the late 2030s. Australia is set to deliver those new vessels to its navy by the early 2040s.
Despite taking years to be fully realised, the deal marks an ambitious shift for the three allied nations as they seek to respond to Beijing’s rapidly expanding military power in the Pacific.
China’s military growth has included the building of a sophisticated naval fleet and the construction of artificial islands that observers say the country has turned into bases.
Australia’s participation in AUKUS prompted a brief but heated spat with France after Canberra pulled out of an earlier deal to replace its ageing fleet of diesel-powered submarines with $66bn of non-nuclear French vessels.
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Compared with the Collins-class submarines due to be retired by Australia, the Virginia-class is almost twice as long and carries nearly three times more crew, with capacity for 132 on board.
The US vessels are also able to stay submerged almost indefinitely and launch powerful cruise missiles.
UK Prime Minister @RishiSunak and I have a shared vision of a secure and stable world.
And tomorrow we'll have more to say on how we're working towards that through AUKUS. pic.twitter.com/TNIat54vpz
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) March 13, 2023
For its part, China has argued AUKUS risks setting off an arms race and violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Beijing has said the transfer of nuclear weapons materials from a nuclear weapons state to a non-nuclear-weapons state is a “blatant” violation of the spirit of the treaty.
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✓ “We urge the US, the UK and Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games, honour international obligations in good faith, and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
In the joint leaders statement released on Monday, the US, UK and Australia pushed back against the criticism, saying “we continue to consult with the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop a non-proliferation approach that sets the strongest precedent for the acquisition of a nuclear-powered submarine capability”.
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Biden, meanwhile, stressed that the submarines will be nuclear powered but “will not have nuclear weapons”.
The PM has announced that the UK will ramp up investment in defence to meet the challenges of an increasingly volatile & complex world.
This £5bn investment will bolster ammunitions, modernise the UK’s nuclear enterprise & fund the next phase of the AUKUS submarine programme. pic.twitter.com/hrkbFdcBBm
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) March 13, 2023
>> Prior to Monday’s meeting, the UK announced $6bn in additional military funding over the next two years to “replenish and bolster vital ammunition stocks, modernise the UK’s nuclear enterprise and fund the next phase of the AUKUS submarine programme”.
In a statement, Downing Street added that longer-term spending increases for the defence budget are being considered.
During his California visit, Biden will hold separate meetings with Albanese and Sunak before travelling to Monterey Park to discuss gun violence protection. The California city suffered a deadly shooting during its Lunar New Year festivities in January.
Biden will then travel to Nevada to discuss his plans to lower prescription drug costs.
The US president’s trip also is scheduled to include several fund-raising stops. Biden is expected to officially announce his 2024 presidential re-election bid next month."
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Aukus nuclear submarine plan unveiled by US, UK, Australia leaders
"Australia will purchase up to five conventionally armed, nuclear-powered US submarines starting early in the 2030s followed a decade later by production of a new class of “SSN Aukus” nuclear-powered submarines developed in concert with the US and Britain to counter China’s growing regional footprint, leaders of the three countries announced on Monday.
The formal declaration by President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese comes 18 months after the nations unveiled the Aukus military alliance, stoking Beijing’s ire.
Biden on Monday stressed that the vessels were nuclear-powered but not nuclear-armed. China has repeatedly accused the alliance of weakening nuclear non-proliferation objectives.
“These boats will not have any nuclear weapons of any kind of them,” Biden said against a backdrop of US naval vessels and nuclear submarines at an outdoor ceremony at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego. “We’re going to be the best in the world.”
✓ In an aside to reporters a short while later, Biden said he was not worried that China would see Aukus as aggressive, adding that he would speak with President Xi Jinping soon, without indicating when.
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Selling Australia up to five US Virginia-class submarines will avoid a “capability gap” between the time its Collins-class diesel-electric subs are retired in the 2030s and the new SSN Aukus vessels coming online a decade later, a senior White House official said. . ."
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China In Sights As US, Australia, Britain Leaders Meet On Subs
US President Joe Biden, seen at the White House, will meet the prime ministers of Australia and Britain to deepen cooperation
Mandel NGANText size
The leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia meet Monday in San Diego with an expected announcement on nuclear submarines, a landmark step in military cooperation as concerns grow over a fast-rising China.
US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will gather in the California naval hub to flesh out the new three-way security pact dubbed AUKUS which the nations unveiled in September 2021.
The key element of AUKUS was a US agreement to export to Australia its prized technology of nuclear-powered submarines, previously shared only with Britain when it designed its undersea fleet in the 1960s.
Ahead of the expected announcement for British-built submarines with US parts, China warned that AUKUS risked setting off an arms race and accused the three countries of setting back nuclear nonproliferation efforts.
"We urge the US, the UK and Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games, honor international obligations in good faith and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
Australia has made clear that it will not pursue nuclear weapons, unlike its two allies.
But nuclear-powered submarines would allow Australia in the coming decades to maintain an underwater presence for months on end, offering an advantage as China's military expands its reach.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks in New Delhi on a stopover there
Money SHARMAChina in recent months reached a controversial security pact with the Solomon Islands and has not ruled out the use of force to take Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that is claimed by Beijing and effectively blocks it from projecting military power deeper into the Pacific.
Britain's The Times newspaper reported that Australia is expected to acquire submarines built by Britain, rather than the United States, under the AUKUS pact because it is easier to crew the smaller UK vessels.
Charles Edel, the Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the United States through AUKUS was strengthening two of its closest allies and seeking to convince China "that it is no longer operating in a permissive security environment."
"Each nation has a slightly different rationale for AUKUS but it largely boils down to China," he said.
China "was not mentioned when AUKUS was first announced, although the exponential growth of Beijing's military power and its more aggressive views over the past decade were the clear animating force behind it," he said.
For Australia, AUKUS represents a major shift in strategy as distrust grows of China, while for Britain, the partnership offers a new outlet for influence after its divorce from the European Union, Edel said.
AUKUS infuriated France as Australia abruptly scrapped a $66 billion deal to buy French conventional submarines.
France's President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he arrives at the Elysee Palace
Emmanuel DUNANDAhead of his travel to San Diego, Sunak headed to Paris to discuss joint operations in the Pacific between the British and French navies.
Sunak said that an updated British security review that is coming out Monday was in line with France's own Indo-Pacific strategy released last year.
The Asia-Pacific is "an increasingly important part of the global economy, it is home to half the world's population, 40 percent of global GDP, and that's set to increase significantly," Sunak told reporters.
"It's understandable that both the French and ourselves are keen to be more active participants in the region."
France in anger recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra over Australia's scrapping of the 2016 submarine deal, although relations with the United States have returned to normal.
A French official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the San Diego summit was "none of our business" but that the three nations had made a point of consulting on what they are doing.
"We continue to think it was a mistake," he said. "Regarding Australia, it was treason."
While initially seen as a bonanza for US industry, AUKUS has also stirred some concern in Washington over pressure on the defense industry, which is also racing to arm Ukraine."
TALK US THROUGH AUKUS…AND AUSTRALIA’S DREAM SUBMARINE | Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability
ALLAN BEHM
FEBRUARY 22 2023
I. INTRODUCTION
In this report, Allan Behm argues that the 2021 AUKUS agreement “remains essentially an exercise in political theatre, lacking in both legal enforceability and a wealth of practical detail—and Australia is no closer to the actual acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines than it was when the agreement was announced. He concludes that: “The question should be whether strategic policy requires nuclear submarines, not how policy should accommodate them because of their availability.”
Allan Behm is Director, International & Security Affairs Program, The Australia Institute.
This study was published by The Australia Institute here
The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Nautilus Institute. Readers should note that Nautilus seeks a diversity of views and opinions on significant topics in order to identify common ground.
This report is published under a 4.0 International Creative Commons License the terms of which are found here
Banner image: Nautilus Institute from AI image generator Craiyon here
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