Australia will build eight nuclear-powered submarines using US technology as part of “the biggest single investment in Australia’s defence capability”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday morning.
Standing alongside US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in California, Albanese said the AUKUS submarine agreement would strengthen Australia’s national security and bring “stability to our region”.
“This is the first time in 65 years — and only the second time in history — that the US has shared its nuclear propulsion technology,” Albanese said.
The underwater vessels will be fitted with conventional arms but be nuclear-powered, based on a British design and incorporating “cutting-edge Australian, UK and US technologies”.
“I’m proud to be your shipmates,” Biden told the other leaders in remarks made at the naval base Point Loma in San Diego.
Sunak said “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, China’s growing assertiveness, and destabilising behaviour of Iran and North Korea” made it “more important than ever [to] strengthen the resilience of our countries”.
“But ultimately, the defence of our values depends, as it always has, on the quality of our relationships with others,” he added.
The full cost of the program is estimated at between $268 billion and $368 billion by 2055.
Australia’s current fleet of Collins-class submarines will begin going out of service in 2038, and the new fleet are not likely to arrive until the 2040s.
However, three US Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines will be delivered to Australia by the early 2030s, Albanese said.
Ahead of the announcement, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition would offer bipartisanship on budget savings to help pay for the subs. “The short answer is yes,” he told ABC’s 7.30.
Greens defence spokesman Senator David Shoebridge called the deal a “$368 billion nuclear-powered raid on public education, health, housing and First Nations justice that will starve core services for decades to come”.
“Until it is reversed, today’s announcement will force Labor to deliver austerity budgets to funnel billions of dollars offshore to fund the US and UK nuclear submarine industries,” he claimed.
