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Agence France-Presse

Australia said on Friday it would pump an additional US$3.2 billion into building the country’s nuclear-powered submarines, part of a controversial defence pact with the United States and Britain.
Under the 2021 Aukus deal, Australia’s most expensive defence project, the country will receive three nuclear-powered submarines from the United States. Australia and Britain will then build a new class of submarine in the 2040s.
But the deal has faced scrutiny over whether slow submarine production rates in the United States and Britain will leave Australia without the vessels it needs.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the additional investment of A$4.6 billion (US$3.2 billion) at a shipyard in Osborne in South Australia “demonstrates that Aukus is on track and happening now”.
“This investment is another important step in building the sovereign capability Australia will need to build, operate, maintain and sustain our future submarine fleet,” he said.

The money will go to new infrastructure and the training of workers. The planned submarine construction yard will be 10 times the size of the current shipyard, which is already building surface ships for the navy, according to Peter Malinauskas, the premier of South Australia.
Aukus is designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific as Beijing’s military power swells alongside its economic strength. Agreed in September 2021, it has two pillars: Australia’s acquisition of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines; and trilateral sharing of advanced capabilities including quantum computing, hypersonic and autonomous weapons, and AI.
The alliance is expected to cost Canberra as much as US$250 billion over the next 30 years.
Under the deal, Australia had been expecting to receive two used submarines and one new one, but it was announced in May that all three would now be in-service vessels from the US Navy stock. Australia defended the new arrangement as more “cost-effective”.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


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Aukus, designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific, is expected to cost Canberra up to US$250 billion over 30 years


Aukus, designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific, is expected to cost Canberra up to US$250 billion over 30 years.


Australia ramps up Aukus funding with US$3.2 billion for nuclear submarine yard

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Aukus, designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific, is expected to cost Canberra up to US$250 billion over 30 years

Aukus, designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific, is expected to cost Canberra up to US$250 billion over 30 years