The United States, United Kingdom and Australia, the military alliance known as Aukus, have reached an agreement of great military and geopolitical importance. The three will work together to create a new type of nuclear-powered submarine for service in their respective navies over the next two decades, which they hope will enhance the group’s Asia-Pacific deterrent capability against a self-defense modernizing China will increase forced marches. It is the most concrete step to date to pool their military strategies and capabilities in Asia, the declared goal of the three governments when they launched their Entente in September 2021.
The announcement was made this Monday at a trilateral summit in California between the President of the United States, Joe Biden, the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and the head of the Australian government, Anthony Albanese, who, among other things, planned to visit the Point Loma base Navy in San Diego. In parallel with the development of submarines, the three countries are trying to combine knowledge, information and strategies in various fields, from hypersonic missiles to artificial intelligence.
“Our agreement on Aukus is part of our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Biden said in a brief appearance at the military base — in front of a US nuclear-powered submarine — along with Sunak and Albanese to announce the project has already Harvested criticism from China. En route to San Diego, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced that Biden had “signaled his willingness to hold a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping once the National People’s Assembly concludes its annual legislature in Beijing.” A talk aimed at defusing tensions between the two great rivals, which have been aggravated since Washington shot down a Chinese balloon that had crossed its territory.
For his part, Sunak stressed that “the challenges we face have only increased”. The war in Ukraine, China’s “growing self-confidence” and “the destabilizing behavior of Iran and North Korea threaten to create a world marked by danger, disorder and division. In the face of this reality, it is more important than ever that we build the resilience of our own countries.”
In a reference to the “seriousness and criticism” of the deal, as described by a US government source on condition of anonymity, and how far the Biden administration is willing to go to protect the Asia-Pacific alliance To strengthen, the pact includes the transfer of US nuclear technology to Australia. It is the first time Washington has taken this step in 65 years; In 1958 he made some of his knowledge available to Britain to enable London to develop its own nuclear submarine program. Even with its closest allies like Canada, it had not taken that step again.
US President Joe Biden (centre) meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the Point Loma Naval Base in San Diego on Monday. Stefan Rousseau (AP)
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“This is a unique opportunity,” stressed another senior US official. The agreement will be developed in three phases, as he explained: “Australia’s submarine capabilities and our combined deterrent posture to promote security in the Indo-Pacific will be increased with each of them.” Along with aircraft carriers, these types of nuclear-powered ships are the crown jewels of the most powerful navies: they are harder to detect, don’t need to be refueled, can stay underwater longer, and travel longer distances than traditional ship ones.
The first phase is already under way. British and American submarines will travel to Australia for training exercises. Australian seafarers will join the crews of these ships from the United Kingdom and the United States and take courses on nuclear energy taught by both countries. Australian workers will be present in the shipyards that produce this type of ship, and henceforth Canberra will begin building its own facilities to produce and house the new ships as well as those of its two allies. A US-British submarine force will be established by 2027 and will rotate in Australia. “This rotating force will bolster deterrence capability with more submarines from both countries in the Indo-Pacific,” US government sources said.
The second phase will start in the early 2030s when Canberra plans to phase out its aging fleet of diesel submarines. By then, and in parallel with the development of the new ship, Australia will purchase from the United States three Virginia-class nuclear submarines already under construction, with the possibility of acquiring two more. A remarkable investment: Each of these ships costs 3.5 billion dollars. [unos 3.260 millones de euros]or more than 10% of the current Australian defense budget.
At the end of this decade comes the third phase: the construction of the new submarine SSN Aukus. This ship will be based on British designs for its new attack submarine, the now defunct SSN R, and will use advanced Virginia model technology. All three countries will contribute components, but the ship will be assembled in UK and Australian shipyards. London will add it to its fleet before 2040; Australia, which has to start from scratch to develop its industrial base to manufacture this behemoth, will include it after this year.
The project won’t come cheap: Development of the SSNs in Virginia has already faced obstacles, and their costs have skyrocketed beyond initial estimates. In this case, the United States plans to allocate $ 4.6 billion to the production and maintenance of its industrial base for the manufacture of these ships. Australia will make “a significant contribution,” according to senior US officials, who also highlight the opportunity to modernize its own industrial base in a highly specialized area. The war in Ukraine “further underlined the need for investment” in this productive defense structure.
A Virginia-type submarine, near Connecticut, 2014.US NAVY (Portal)
The announcement is part of a series of initiatives and diplomatic contacts by the United States to strengthen its military presence in Asia. Its major concern is its systemic rival China, which already has a fleet larger than that of the world’s leading power and is building new ships at a faster rate. “We need a bigger Navy, we need more ships in the future, especially more modern ships that can respond to the threat,” Assistant Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro warned last month. In addition, he also keeps an eye on the activities of North Korea and Russia.
In recent months, the Pentagon has already agreed to send more troops and equipment to Philippine army bases and to help Japan modernize its armed forces after that country, with a pacifist constitution, decided to boost its defense budget and take a more active role his troops, motivated at least in part by growing Chinese power. Next month, Biden is scheduled to receive Yoon Suk-yeol, his counterpart in South Korea, where the United States has nearly 30,000 military personnel stationed at the White House.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the submarine deal “poses a serious threat of nuclear proliferation, undermines the international non-proliferation regime, intensifies the arms race and affects peace and stability in Asia.” .
The Aukus Alliance made its debut a year and a half ago with a controversy over submarines. In announcing the formation of the group, Australia announced that it would be terminating the agreement it had had with France to purchase diesel-powered submarines from the European country. At the time, President Emmanuel Macron’s government called the gesture “treason.”
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