Australia and the United Kingdom will build a new type of nuclear submarine with US technology
March 13 () –
The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have announced on Monday a military and industrial agreement that includes the sale of between three and five US nuclear submarines to Canberra and a program for the construction of a new type of submarine for the British and Australian navies with technology North American.
The US president, Joe Biden, has met in San Diego, California, with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and the Australian ‘premier’, Anthony Albanese, to announce this historic agreement that includes joint patrols of submarines in the Pacific.
Biden has stressed that this agreement “attests to the ancient ties” between the three countries and has underlined his “commitment” to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific.
“I want to make it clear to everyone from the beginning that these submarines are not nuclear-armed, but have a nuclear engine. Australia is a state that is proud to be nuclear-free and wants to stay that way,” Biden added.
For his part, Albanese stressed that “AUKUS is our way of facing the future” and recalled the “common tradition of service to the cause of peace and sacrifice in the name of freedom”. “We respect and pay homage to our past and with the AUKUS we look to the future”, he has riveted her.
SUBMARINES CONSTRUCTION
The three nations that make up the AUKUS group — each nation’s acronym in English — have agreed on a schedule to expand trilateral military industrial capacity.
The agenda contemplates, among others, the training of Australian military and civilian personnel within the US Navy and the British Royal Navy from 2023. Likewise, Washington will increase port visits to Australia from 2023, while London will do so from 2026.
“Beginning in the 2030s, pending congressional approval, the United States intends to sell three Virginia-class submarines to Australia, with the potential to sell up to two more if necessary,” they said in a statement. a joint statement.
For its part, the United Kingdom will receive the new AUKUS class nuclear submarines in the late 2030s at a rate of one every two years, while Australia will receive them in the early 2040s. These vessels will be built in Australian shipyards with the collaboration of both countries. These submarines will have British design and American technology.
As early as 2027, the United States and the United Kingdom plan to begin rotations to Australia to accelerate the development of the Australian naval personnel, workforce, infrastructure, and regulatory system necessary to establish a sovereign nuclear submarine capability.
In this way, the initiative of the AUKUS countries seeks to increase the industrial capacity of the three nations. “It expands our individual and collective submarine presence in the Indo-Pacific and contributes to global security and stability,” they said.
