AUKUS agreement will assist Australia in procuring a fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines
AUKUS partners Australia, the UK and the US have signed an ‘Exchange of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information Agreement’, paving the way to the procurement of nuclear-powered submarines (SSN) for the Royal Australian Navy.
The agreement allows Washington and London to provide Canberra with sensitive and classified information on the propulsion systems of nuclear submarines.
The partnership will assist Australia in procuring a fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.
“The Agreement will permit cooperation, which will further improve our mutual defense posture and support our interests under the North Atlantic Treaty; the Australia, New Zealand, and United States Security Treaty; and the enhanced trilateral security partnership among the three Parties known as ‘AUKUS,’” Biden said in the memo.
Australian Minister of Defence Peter Dutton described the agreement as “another important step in Australia’s pursuit of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines”.
Dutton said that the “agreement will support Australia in completing the 18 months of intensive and comprehensive examination of the requirements underpinning the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines,” said Dutton.
Although the deal between the U.S., UK and Australia does not explicitly mention China, the U.S. officials have acknowledged that the announcement of security pact is an effort by the Western allies to push back on China’s rise in the military and technology fields.
The leaders of Australia, the UK, and the US jointly announced the security partnership known as AUKUS on September 15. Australia abruptly cancelled a multibillion-dollar deal with France to build a fleet of conventional submarines. Paris accused its allies of stabbing it in the back when Australia opted for nuclear-powered submarines to be built with U.S. and British technology instead of French.
