A US Navy Virginia-class submarine at HMAS Stirling naval base in Rockingham, on the outskirts of Perth, on August 4, 2023 in Australia (AFP/Archives/Tony McDonough)
Australia announced on Thursday that it was entering into a partnership with the British BAE Systems for the construction of nuclear-powered submarines, two and a half years after breaking an agreement with France aimed at developing its naval capacity in the face of Chinese ambitions in Asia. Peaceful.
The first devices must be delivered from 2040, the Australian Submarines Agency announced on Thursday.
The SNN-AUKUS class machines, which are to be built with the Australian public group ASC, are to be added to the three Virginia class devices which are to be delivered to Australia by the United States in the 2030s.
The Australian government welcomed the opportunity to “build a sovereign, long-term, nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarine capability.”
In 2021, Canberra caused a major diplomatic crisis with Paris by breaking without warning a 55 billion euro contract for the purchase of 12 conventionally powered submarines from Naval Group (AFP/Archives/LOIC VENANCE)
In 2021, Canberra caused a major diplomatic crisis with Paris by breaking without warning a 55 billion euro contract for the purchase of 12 conventionally powered submarines from Naval Group.
The details of the partnership concluded with BAE Systems have not been specified but it should, according to Australian defense officials, result in the construction of at least five submarines.
The details of the partnership concluded with BAE Systems have not been specified but it should result in the construction of at least five submarines (AFP/Archives/LINDSEY PARNABY)
The first are to be built in Great Britain while the following will be built in the shipyards of Adelaide, in southern Australia.
This partnership was concluded as part of the Aukus pact established in September 2021 with Washington and London to counter China’s influence in the South Pacific.
Nuclear-powered submarines offer more stealth and, above all, much more autonomy than conventional submarines.
Australian and British defense and foreign ministers are expected to provide more details following a meeting in Adelaide on Friday.
– Defense agreement –
Australian officials estimate that it will be necessary to mobilize 20,000 people – technicians, metal workers, electricians and welders – to make this project a reality.
An Australian Navy Collin-class diesel-electric submarine in Sydney Harbour, November 2, 2016 (AFP/PETER PARKS)
Australia currently has a fleet of aging diesel-electric submarines, weighed down by design flaws.
Building the nuclear-powered submarines is expected to take more than 15 years, but Canberra is due to receive at least three Virginia-class submarines from the United States in the meantime.
The Aukus project to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines could cost up to $240 billion over 30 years.
However, some fear that it will be scuttled by Donald Trump if he wins the US presidential election in November 2024.
“Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States remain fully committed to this joint enterprise,” American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and British Defense Minister Grant tried to reassure in a joint statement on Thursday. Shapps, and his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles.
Earlier on Thursday, British and Australian defense ministers signed a new defense agreement in Canberra, paving the way for mutually welcoming troops.
The agreement does not constitute a full-fledged mutual defense pact, which would require one side to intervene if the other was attacked or threatened. But both sides said they were “committed to engaging” each other in the event of a threat.
The acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines will place Australia in a very exclusive club on the international scene and at the forefront of Washington’s efforts to counter China’s military expansion in the Asia-Pacific.
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© 2024 AFP
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