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Australia is on track to announce plans to buy new nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK, despite scepticism in Washington, the Albanese government says.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the defence minister, Richard Marles, said Australia’s relationship with the US remained strong after revelations two US senators raised concerns to the president, Joe Biden, the Aukus deal between the three countries could kill off America’s submarine-building industry.
The Democratic senator Jack Reed, chair of the US Senate armed services committee, and the then ranking Republican senator, James Inhofe, now retired, sent Biden a letter in December saying “over the past year, we have grown more concerned about the state of the US submarine industrial base as well as its ability to support the desired Aukus SSN [nuclear submarine] end state”.
“We believe current conditions require a sober assessment of the facts to avoid stressing the US submarine industrial base to the breaking point,” they reportedly wrote.
“We are concerned that what was initially touted as a ‘do no harm’ opportunity to support Australia and the United Kingdom and build long-term competitive advantages for the US and its Pacific Allies, may be turning into a zero-sum game for scarce, highly advanced US [Virginia-class submarines].
“We urge you to adopt a ‘do no harm’ approach to Aukus negotiations and ensure that sovereign US national security capabilities will not be diminished as we work to build this strategic partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom over the coming decades.”
On Saturday, Albanese said an “optimal pathway” for building the submarines would be revealed in the first quarter of this year.
“We’re very confident that it’s in the interests of Australia, but also in the interests of the United States and the interests of the United Kingdom,” he said on Saturday.
“When we talk about optimal pathway, we talk about not just the issue of what is built, but how it is built, as well as the optimal pathway in building a capacity of skills in the Australian workforce.”
Marles said Australia would need to make its own industrial contribution for the US and UK deal, while working to prepare the local sector.
“We have said that we will build the capacity in Adelaide to build nuclear-powered submarines,” he said.
This would include working with nuclear technology experts from universities across Australia, as well as preparing for the roles necessary for the construction.
“This is a really exciting opportunity for Australia,” Marles said.
Australia needs to replace its ageing diesel-powered Collins-class fleet of submarines.
The former Morrison government controversially ditched a $90bn French contract for new ones to instead build nuclear-powered subs from the US and UK.
The deal created a looming capability gap, requiring the Collins-class submarines to be upgraded and their life extended until the first nuclear-propelled submarines could be made in Australia by the late 2030s.
The US aims to build its own fleet of at least 60 nuclear-powered submarines but is struggling to meet its own needs.
In December the US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, recommitted the Biden administration “to ensuring that Australia acquires this capability [nuclear submarines] at the earliest possible date”.
In June, Peter Dutton, the opposition leader and former defence minister, revealed he “believed it possible to negotiate with the Americans to acquire, say, the first two submarines off the production line out of Connecticut”.
“This wouldn’t mean waiting until 2038 for the first submarine to be built here in Australia,” he wrote. “We would have our first two subs this decade. I had formed a judgment the Americans would have facilitated exactly that.”
The revelation prompted criticism from experts including Marcus Hellyer, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, who said this had not been agreed by the US government and it would be a “pretty serious kind of breach or leak [to disclose it]” if it had.
“No boats are available before 2030 unless the US gives up its own – that would be quite remarkable – the US has been clear there is no way they can build additional submarines,” Hellyer told Guardian Australia at the time.
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