SAN DIEGO—Australia will purchase up to five nuclear-powered attack submarines over the next decade as part of a much-anticipated agreement formally announced on March 13 by U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in California.
Under the agreement, Australia will buy three Virginia-class hunter submarines by the early 2030s, with an option to buy two more—perhaps Los Angeles-class attack subs—as part of the trilateral security pact known as AUKUS.
The submarines will be added to Australia’s aging six-sub fleet in response to China’s increasingly aggressive posture in the Indo-Pacific, especially in the South China Sea, where it’s building military bases on artificial islands abreast of shipping lanes and air trade routes.
“The United States has safeguarded stability in the Indo-Pacific for decades for the enormous benefit of nations throughout the region,” Biden said, standing in front of the attack submarine USS Missouri. “We’re showing again how democracies can deliver our own security and prosperity, and not just for us but for the entire world.”
“Today, a new chapter in the relationship between our nation, the United States, and the United Kingdom begins,” Albanese said, noting Australia’s federal government will spend $268 billion to $368 billion through 2055 for the program, which will deliver 20,000 direct jobs for Australians.
Shot Across China’s Bow
In a joint statement, the three leaders launched a proverbial flare across China’s bow, touting the submarines as a needed check on the regime’s South China Sea efforts.The statement called the agreement “the first major initiative of AUKUS,” which began in 2021 with the goal of greater exchanges of naval technology and cooperation between the Americans, British, and Australians.
Under AUKUS, the navies will join forces for joint submarine patrols in the South China Sea to counter China’s growing assertiveness.
U.S. Navy attack sub-rotational deployments will go from one Western Australia-based ship to four by 2030. The British will also permanently deploy a submarine to Western Australia, where the U.S. Navy has been scouting for a base for decades.
The pact will also deliver a new submarine class, called the SSN-AUKUS, with the UK to produce the first SSN-AUKUS to the Royal Navy in the 2030s, and Australia to deliver the submarine built in Australia to its Navy in the early 2040s, according to the joint statement.
Sunak described the SSN-AUKUS as “one of the most advanced nuclear-powered subs the world has ever known.” He said AUKUS could ”not happen without cutting-edge American technology and expertise“ and ”world-leading” British design.
“For the first time ever, it will mean three fleets of submarines working together across both the Atlantic and Pacific, keeping our oceans free, open, and prosperous for decades to come,” the British prime minister said.
No Talk of Western Australia Base
There was no indication from the three leaders if a joint AUKUS submarine base—long-rumored near or on Dirk Hartog Island—will be part of “the second stage of AUKUS,” which will include collaboration on hypersonics and other quickly deployed weaponry.“This plan is designed to support Australia’s development of the infrastructure, technical capabilities, industry, and human capital necessary to produce, maintain, operate, and steward a sovereign fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines,” the joint statement said. “Australia is fully committed to responsible stewardship of naval nuclear propulsion technology.”
The sale caused friction among Western allies when Australia in 2020 canceled a $66 billion contract with French builders to build 12 diesel-powered submarines.
The new agreement comes after an 18-month study by the Australian navy to confirm securing a contract with Virginia-class manufacturer General Dynamics Corp. for up to five ships was the nation’s best option.
US Will Share Secrets
The AUKUS submarine project is significant because the U.S. Navy hasn’t shared its nuclear-propulsion technologies since partnering with Britain in the 1950s.But the rewards of cooperation outweigh the risk of sharing secrets, the three leaders said.
Implementing AUKUS will “require robust, novel information sharing and technology cooperation,” the joint statement said. “Our nations are committed to further trilateral collaboration that will strengthen our joint capabilities, enhance our information and technology sharing, and integrate our industrial bases and supply chains while strengthening the security regimes of each nation.”
The deal will also make Australia the first nation outside the “Club of Five”—United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France—to put a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to sea.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin emphasized the cooperation and integration between builders and navies in launching what the Pentagon is calling the “first phase of ‘Optimal Pathway.’”
No Talk of Critical Minerals
Before Biden arrived at the Point Loma submarine base, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan had revealed various aspects of the deal, noting that Australia’s fleet of six Collins-class diesel-powered submarines is essentially obsolete in contending with China, which has the world’s largest navy and has been building submarines at a rapid pace.Albanese told reporters while visiting India on March 11 that the SSN-AUKUS deal is the single-biggest defense investment in the nation’s history and that workers in South Australia and Western Australia would benefit from the deal, saying it “is about jobs, including jobs in manufacturing.”
Sunak told reporters in England, before departing for the United States, that AUKUS is “binding ties to our closest allies and delivering security, new technology, and economic advantage at home.”
While the leaders didn’t mention how AUKUS will affect the exchange of strategic and critical minerals between the three nations, Australia currently produces half of the world’s lithium, which is a key component in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Australia exports most of its lithium to China, which manufactures more than 80 percent of the world’s EV batteries and maintains a dominant “mine-to-market” position.
