US politicians who have championed AUKUS have stepped up lobbying efforts with the Trump administration, saying the defence technology pact is “critical” to deterring “Chinese aggression” and urging the White House not to dump it.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration said earlier this month it would conduct a 30-day review of AUKUS, with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling Congress last week his department would “make sure it fits the priorities of the president and that our defence and shipbuilding industrial base can support.”<\/p>\n
The federal government has played down the impact of the review, saying it was confident the White House would continue to endorse the initiative.<\/p>\n
Five US congressmen who sit on multiple influential house defence committees have now written to the defense secretary to declare their support for AUKUS, saying it was a “critical mission” to “deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.”<\/p>\n
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The Trump administration said in May it would review the submarine deal it had with Australia and the UK.<\/p>\n
US wants Australia to step up<\/p>\n
The senior Pentagon official conducting the review, Elbridge Colby, has previously said the US will only be able to sell at least three Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia under AUKUS if it succeeds in rapidly lifting its rate<\/a> of submarine production.<\/p>\n Australia has committed $3 billion to help bolster America’s submarine industrial base under AUKUS.<\/p>\n The five congressmen \u2014 including Republican and House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers as well as Democrats Joe Courtney and Adam Smith \u2014 said in their letter that they were “confident in our ability to meet both US fleet requirements and our AUKUS commitments.”<\/p>\n Virginia-class attack submarines are currently produced at a rate of about two a year. (US Department of Defense)<\/p>\n The politicians said additional funding commitments from Congress, on top of Australia’s payments, have allowed US shipyards to ramp up steel fabrication and increase construction pace.<\/p>\n “Shipbuilders delivered two attack submarines in 2024 (USS New Jersey and USS Iowa), with two more slated for delivery in 2025 (USS Massachusetts and USS Idaho), and another two in 2026,” they wrote.<\/p>\n They argued that increasing capacity would “open a pathway to selling the Virginia-class submarines to Australia in 2032, 2035, and 2038”, as planned.<\/p>\n The congressmen also talked up progress on skills, saying “over 120″ Australian sailors and officers were currently completing joint nuclear submarine training, with other Australian sailors already joint-crewing US Virginia-class submarines.”<\/p>\n Marles ‘confident’ Australia can deliver<\/p>\n The letter comes as AUKUS supporters in both the Senate and Congress \u2014 as well as Australian officials \u2014 intensify efforts to reassure senior Trump administration officials that it should stand.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n