Australia said Thursday it is “very confident” in the future of a US agreement to equip its navy with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, after the Trump administration put the pact under review.<\/p>\n
The 2021 AUKUS deal joins Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in a multi-decade effort to balance China’s growing military might.<\/p>\n
It aims to arm Australia with a fleet of cutting-edge, nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and provides for cooperation in developing an array of warfare technologies.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump’s administration has advised Australia and the United Kingdom that it is reviewing AUKUS, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Defence confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n
Defence Minister Richard Marles said he was “very confident” Australia would still get the American submarines.<\/p>\n
“I think the review that’s been announced is not a surprise,” he told public broadcaster ABC.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been aware of this for some time. We welcome it. It’s something which is perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do.”<\/p>\n
Australia plans to acquire at least three Virginia Class submarines from the United States within 15 years, eventually manufacturing its own subs.<\/p>\n
– ‘Time to wake up’ –<\/p>\n
The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels, which can carry cruise missiles, but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year.<\/p>\n
Critics question why the United States would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without stocking its own military first.<\/p>\n
Marles said boosting the US production of US Virginia Class submarines was a challenge.<\/p>\n
“That’s why we are working very closely with the United States on seeing that happen. But that is improving,” he said.<\/p>\n
Government forecasts estimate the submarine programme alone could cost Australia up to US$235 billion over the next 30 years, a price tag that has contributed to criticism of the strategy.<\/p>\n
Australia should conduct its own review of AUKUS, said former conservative prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, noting that Britain and now the United States had each decided to re-examine the pact.<\/p>\n
“Australia, which has the most at stake, has no review. Our parliament to date has been the least curious and least informed. Time to wake up?” he posted on X.<\/p>\n
Former Labor Party prime minister Paul Keating, a vehement critic of AUKUS, said the US review might “save Australia from itself”.<\/p>\n
Australia should carve its own security strategy “rather than being dragged along on the coat tails of a fading Atlantic empire”, Keating said.<\/p>\n
“The review makes clear that America keeps its national interests uppermost. But the concomitant question is: Why has Australia failed to do the same?”<\/p>\n
– ‘No Plan B’ –<\/p>\n
Any US review of AUKUS carries a risk, particularly since it is a Biden-era initiative, said Euan Graham, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.<\/p>\n
But it is “fundamentally a good deal for the US”, he said, with Australia already investing cash to boost American submarine production as part of the agreement.<\/p>\n
“I just do not think it is realistic for Australia, this far backed in, to have any prospect of withdrawing itself from AUKUS,” Graham told AFP.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think there is a Plan B that would meet requirements and I think it would shred Australia’s reputation fundamentally in a way that would not be recoverable.”<\/p>\n
djw\/lec\/pst<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia said Thursday it is “very confident” in the future of a US agreement to equip its navy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[73182,186,24159,14315,14014,49,978,2581,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-177434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-american-submarines","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-richard-marles","11":"tag-the-united-kingdom","12":"tag-the-united-states","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-us-president-donald-trump","16":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114668447225658110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}