U.S., British and Australian leaders are set to launch a decades-long project on Monday to field what would eventually amount to a joint fleet of nuclear-powered submarines tailored to counter China’s military influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The announcement in San Diego by US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took 18 months. President Biden and his counterparts’ respective predecessors said in September 2021 that they would form an alliance to equip the Royal Australian Navy with secret naval nuclear propulsion technology, naming the company after the initials of the three countries: AUKUS.
Senior administration officials, who briefed reporters ahead of the announcement on condition of anonymity, detailed the outline of the arrangement.
In a first phase, US officials will help Australia build its capacity to maintain and operate nuclear-powered submarines, namely US Virginia-class and UK Astute-class boats which will begin operating from Perth , in southeastern Australia, in 2027.
In a second phase, in the 2030s, Australia will buy at least three and up to five Virginia-class ships from the US Navy, new or used. The exact number will depend on progress in the third and final phase, which sees Canberra building a new type of nuclear-powered submarine in the 2040s based on a nascent design of the follow-on submarine for the Astute.
US officials stressed that although the design is British, the eventual submarine, dubbed SSN-AUKUS, would still be made with American technology.
The mega-project aims to overcome Australia’s lack of exposure to the secrets of nuclear propulsion through billions of dollars invested by the three participants. A budget line for US shipbuilding newly added last year is expected to reach $4.6 billion this year. The funds are intended to fill industry capacity gaps now and pave the way for increased AUKUS production levels later.
“These are down payments on what needs to be done for America’s submarine industrial base,” the administration official said, adding that the White House would “work with Congress to secure very substantial lifts in the industrial base.” US submarine – lifts that go significantly beyond the $4.6 billion we will have submitted with the President’s budget proposal.
Australia, in turn, will make a “proportionate and appropriate” contribution, the official said without giving a dollar amount. Britain on Monday announced a £3 billion ($3.6 billion) increase in spending on nuclear submarines, some of which will go, directly or indirectly, to AUKUS.
Submarines powered by atomic reactors can stay on mission longer, travel farther and maneuver faster than those powered by diesel generators or fuel cells – key advantages, in the eyes of AUKUS supporters, to ensure stability in Asia-Pacific amid Chinese military flex.
Canberra eventually wants to replace its conventionally powered Collins-class boats with nuclear-powered submarines. Australia’s original plan before AUKUS was to buy 12 conventional submarines from the French naval group, and the cancellation of that deal in favor of the nuclear pact with the US and Britain caused a diplomatic outcry major with Paris in 2021 which has since largely diminished.
US military analysts say stealth attack submarines would play a pivotal role in any conflict with China or another adversary, and the navy has doubled its submarine advantage, making investments to increase the lethality of its submarines. -marines and the ability of the fleet to detect enemy submarines.
But the main weakness has been capacity. The industry has been unable to reach and sustain a two-year production rate for the Navy, and the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent labor market changes have only put further challenge submarine builders General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding and their thousands of suppliers. The Navy would need to purchase at least three submarines per year to reach its planned fleet size, but this has not been realistic given recent industry performance.
Analysts point to shipbuilding capacity as the main bottleneck for AUKUS. “The objective seems to be to increase the number of boats in or, rather, under water, but there is an open question as to the production capacity of our shipyards and really of the three countries,” said Charles Edel, a former State Department official, now at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “Again, the ambition is to expand shipbuilding here. The question is how quickly this can be accomplished.”
Congressional buy-in will be crucial in putting AUKUS on the right track, both to approve new shipbuilding funds and to allow commissioned US Navy Virginia-class boats to be sold to Australia in as a temporary capacity. For now, White House officials said they had emerged optimistic from briefings in recent weeks.
While Congress wouldn’t have to act on Virginia-class sales until the 2030s, when Australia will want the subs, US officials said doing so sooner would give Canberra peace of mind. .
“There are benefits to making it clear to Australians and the world that the United States is engaged,” the administration official said.
Another priority on AUKUS’ to-do list is an update of US policies that allow sharing of sensitive nuclear propulsion technologies. While an initial defense agreement with Australia for this purpose has been in effect since February 2022, officials plan to negotiate a new text with a broader scope.
Joe Gould in Washington contributed to this report.
Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, US-European cooperation and multinational investments in defense and global security. Previously, he was editor of Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.
Megan Eckstein is a naval warfare reporter at Defense News. She has covered military news since 2009, with a focus on US Navy and Marine Corps operations, acquisition programs and budgets. She has reported on four geographic fleets and is happiest when filing stories from a ship. Megan is an alumnus of the University of Maryland.
Bryant Harris is the congressional reporter for Defense News. He has covered US foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.
Source : asafrance.fr