The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have welcomed the new agreement to build Australia’s SSN-AUKUS submarines and termed it a significant milestone in the endeavour of defence cooperation.

Australia, Britain Sign Defence Cooperation Agreement

The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have welcomed the new agreement to build Australia’s SSN-AUKUS submarines and termed it a significant milestone in the endeavour of defence cooperation. The agreement has been signed between Australia’s ASC Pty Ltd and UK-based BAE Systems, with the former being selected as Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine sustainment partner, according to a trilateral statement by Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and UK Defence Grant Shapps.

AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region between Australia, the UK and the US.

Under the AUKUS agreement, a security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States launched in 2021, Australia also named BAE, Britain’s biggest defence company, to build nuclear submarines in partnership with Australia-based naval firm ASC. Under AUKUS, Australia will buy several U.S. Virginia-class submarines in the next decade and build a new AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine at Adelaide shipyards by 2040.

Australia is boosting defence interoperability and military exercises with the United States and regional partners after a defence review last year said China was undertaking the largest military build-up of any country since the end of World War Two. Australia will also invest A$1.5 billion ($993 million) to prepare a naval base in Western Australia for nuclear submarines, in particular a U.S. and British force set to be based their part of each year starting in 2027. The total cost of the work is expected to be about A$8 billion.

Australia plans to send roughly 100 ASC workers to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, next year to train at the U.S. naval facility there.