AUKUS pact makes waves with underwater deal

Australia will buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines with delivery by the “early 2030s” and then switch to British submarines by the end of that decade, according to a deal unveiled by the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. States on Monday.

Gathering in San Diego, California, under the auspices of the AUKUS security pact announced between their nations in 2021, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden said the deal was the best way for they could find to provide Australia with the submarines as quickly as possible.

The deal will see Australia buy three Virginia-class submarines from US shipyards with an option to buy two more, Albanese said at the event. At the same time, Australia will start building its own submarines with help from the UK.

“This will be an Australian sovereign capacity, built by Australians, commanded by the Royal Australian Navy and sustained by Australian workers in Australian shipyards, with construction starting this decade,” Albanese said, adding that it would create 20,000 jobs.

“Our future security will be built and maintained not only by the courage and professionalism of our defense forces,” he added, but by everyone involved, including engineers and welders. “For Australia, this whole-nation effort also presents a whole-nation opportunity.”

Nuclear powered, not nuclear weapons

For the first time, the deal will give Australia access to nuclear-powered submarines, and the power source will allow the vessels to stay at sea. for months at a time no need to refuel. But the ships will be equipped only with conventional weapons, and for decades Australia decided not to build nuclear weapons.

“I want to be clear to everyone,” Biden said, “these submarines are (nuclear) powered, not nuclear-armed submarines.” As a signatory to Nuclear Non-Production TreatyAustralia is “a proud nuclear-weapon-free state,” he explained, “and is committed to remaining so.”

Australian personnel will be integrated into US Navy construction yards as part of the sale, Biden said, and existing US submarines will rotate more frequently to Australian ports “to make sure Australian sailors are fully trained to prepare to operate this fleet safely.”

“Already today,” Albanese said, “there are Australian submariners undergoing nuclear power training in the United States, and I am proud to confirm, Mr. President, that they are all in the top 30% of their class.”

Sunak said the deal would create “thousands of good, well-paying jobs in places like Barrow and Darby” in the UK while sharing “knowledge and experience with Australian engineers so they can build their own fleet” and create a close link between AUKUS .

“We represent three allies who have stood shoulder to shoulder for more than a century, three peoples who have shed blood together in defense of our shared values, and three democracies coming together again to fulfill that higher purpose,” he said. saying.

a french exit

The announcement comes after months of back and forth, with key members of the US Congress suggesting that Australia would not be able to buy US-made submarines. huge delays at US shipyards.

Last year, Rep. Rob Whitman, a Virginia Republican who was then his party’s ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, said Canberra would not be able to skip the line to buy the America’s most advanced submarines as the US Navy murga.

“There has been a lot of talk that the Australians would buy an American submarine,” Whitman said. said on december 5. “That’s not going to happen.”

However, the Virginia-class submarines being sold to Australia are not “junk” and are of the “highest quality,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat and chair of the bipartisan AUKUS caucus. told ABC Australia weekend.

“The useful life of a Virginia Class submarine is 33 years,” he said. “No one is going to endorse gadgets to good friends and allies.”

The deal is the culmination of a multi-year process that began when Albanese’s predecessor, Scott Morrison, canceled a deal made with a French shipbuilder to sell conventionally fueled submarines in Australia.

Morrison said at the time that he feared the ships would be outdated by the time they were delivered, but it turned into a diplomatic crisis after French President Emmanual accused Morrison of lying to him.

The Albanese government agreed last year to pay the French company about $583 million in an agreement for the discarded contract.

A fact sheet distributed by the White House in the run-up to the event highlighted what it said were “unrivaled safety records” of the UK and US nuclear-powered submarines Australia was buying.

“For more than 60 years, the United Kingdom and the United States have operated more than 500 naval nuclear reactors that together have traveled more than 150 million miles, the equivalent of more than 300 trips to the moon and back, without incident. no adverse effects on human health. or the quality of the environment,” the document said.

“Australia is committed to upholding these same standards to safely manage naval nuclear propulsion technology,” it said.

eyes in china

Biden, Albanese and Sunak did not directly mention China’s stance in the Indo-Pacific region during Monday’s event, instead focusing on what they said were the ties that united their three countries.

The US president called Australia and the UK “two of America’s most loyal and capable allies” and said “our common values” and “shared vision” were the driving force behind AUKUS. .

But the 18-month security pact is widely understood to be aimed at deterring Chinese aggression amid threats from Beijing to invade Taiwan and seize control of the South China Sea, which it claims as territory.

Charles Edel, Australia’s senior adviser and chair at the Center for Strategic and Independent Studies in Washington, said in a call with reporters on Friday that the deal was aimed “to convince Beijing that it is no longer operating in a permissive security environment.” ”.

“However, the biggest significance of the announcement is not just the submarines, but the strategic convergence we are seeing between Australia, the UK and the US, particularly in the context of rising tensions between China and Russia,” he said. edel.

“In a strict sense, AUKUS is a trilateral partnership aimed at enhancing the defense capabilities of the three nations involved,” he added. “But in its broader meaning is the intention to promote technological integration, grow industrial capacity and deepen strategic coordination between the three countries.”

The deal was welcomed by Republicans in Congress, and Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, who serves as the party’s ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was a positive first step for the administration. of Biden in the projection of power to Beijing.

“The Indo-Pacific faces a direct threat from China, and there is nothing more important than deterring Chinese aggression and making it more difficult for (Chinese President) Xi Jinping to achieve his goals,” Risch said.

But for Australia, it’s also about nuclear-powered submarines.

“This is a great day for Australia, and it is a good day,” Albanese said Sunday morning, according to Age. “A new dawn in San Diego and a new dawn for Australian defense policy.”

Edited by Malcolm Foster.