Australia Seeks Expedited Defence Capability in US-Built Nuclear Subs

The Los Angeles-class submarine USS San Francisco from a five-month deployment in Apra Harbor, Guam, on June 4, 2004. Mark A. Leonesio/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Australia is in discussions with the United States to speed up its acquisition of nuclear submarines in a bid to sooner have the defense vessels on hand amid the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) increasing military aggression in the Indo-Pacific.

“It’s important to get the capability as soon as we can,” a spokesperson for Defence Minister Richard Marles said. “We are still doing the consultations to set out the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire the capability.”

Marles told Sky News on Sunday that Australia was facing military capability gap given that the original timeline for receiving the submarines is in the 2040s.

“What we’ve sought from the process that’s underway with AUKUS right now is not simply to answer the question as to what platform we run with ... but how soon we can get it,” he said.

The move could see Australia’s first nuclear-powered submarines built in America to fill in a major capability gap while plans continue for increased on-shore production in the long run, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

It comes one year after Australia, the UK, and the United States formed a trilateral security partnership called AUKUS with a stated aim to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific, and more broadly “an international system that respects human rights, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes free from coercion.”

“Over the last 12 months, we have made significant progress towards Australia acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines,” leaders of the three nations said in a joint statement on Sept. 24.

“We are steadfast in our commitment to Australia acquiring this capability at the earliest possible date.

“As leaders, we remain committed to ensuring the highest level of nuclear safety, security, and stewardship in this endevour.”

The statement highlighted that Australia “does not seek and will not acquire nuclear weapons.”

According to the WSJ, U.S. officials were looking to equip Australia with its first few nuclear-powered submarines by the mid-2030s—a proposal that would require an investment of billions of dollars. A final decision on how to proceed is expected in March next year.

Compared to conventional submarines, U.S. nuclear-powered submarines have greater performance advantages such as being larger in size, operating underwater at higher speeds for longer, and having long interval between refuelings.

Control of the Pacific

Many China experts have been supporting the idea of providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines as Beijing is flexing its military expansion in the Indo-Pacific.

Previously, former Chinese navy colonel and military expert Cheng Yao told The Epoch Times that AUKUS was a strategic move that would help form a military stronghold, with Australia, Japan, and Guam facing the aggression in the region from the CCP.

He noted that Australia’s geographic location makes it vulnerable if Beijing is successful in breaking through the first island chain and reaching the Pacific Ocean.

Australia, Guam and Japan, which are forming a military stronghold against Beijing’s maritime ambition to reach the Pacific Ocean, taken on Sept. 23, 2021. Screenshot via Google maps

Cheng Xiaonong, scholar of China’s politics and economy, agreed, saying providing Australia with nuclear-powered fleets capable of traveling long distances would “effectively” block the Chinese regime’s “planned invasion of the South Pacific.”

Cheng Xiaonong warned of the CCP’s ambition to build a city or naval base near Australia, in an attempt to “control the vast waters of the South Pacific, to isolate Australia, and to threaten the United States.”

“Australia may not yet understand the reason why the CCP has been building bases in island countries in the southern hemisphere, such as Samoa, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, which are geographically not too close to Australia,” he wrote in a column to The Epoch Times in October 2021.

“By the time the CCP reaches the gateway to it, however, Australia will realize the true intentions of this communist regime.”

AAP contributed to this report.