By Matthew Knott
Britain’s defence secretary has warned that distracted democracies risk emboldening dictators, as Australia prepares to pump almost $5 billion into the United Kingdom’s production lines to fast-track the AUKUS military pact and joins an international coalition to provide drones to Ukraine.
The Australian and UK foreign and defence ministers will on Friday announce that a joint venture between British defence giant BAE Systems and Australian government-owned ASC will build the proposed fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to be known as SSN-AUKUS.
Defence Minister Richard Marles and British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The submarines, which are currently being designed, are scheduled to enter service with the Australian navy in the early 2040s.
Australia will inject $4.6 billion into the British industrial base over 10 years under the deal in a bid to avoid the delays that have bedevilled past naval projects. The submarines will be built at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyards, incorporating a British Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor and American components.
This comes on top of the $4.5 billion Australia is providing to expand the American industrial base to allow it to sell three US-built Virginia-class submarines to the Australian navy in the early 2030s as a stop-gap measure until the SSN-AUKUS arrives.
The government will use the announcement to show the AUKUS pact is on track despite the recent news that America will decrease its production of nuclear-powered submarines.
After signing a new treaty in Canberra to elevate Australia-UK defence ties on Thursday, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said that allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war in Ukraine would set a disastrous precedent for other autocratic leaders to follow.
“The whole world, and particularly any dictator, anyone who doesn’t have to answer to voters, is looking at what happens in Ukraine and deciding whether all he needs to do is outwait the West and the civilised world in order to keep what you have gained through ill-gotten means,” Shapps said at a press conference with Defence Minister Richard Marles.
“I think the biggest threat that the world faces today is a sense of attention deficit from countries that believe in freedom and democracy.
“We must be prepared, therefore, to make sure that that does not happen.”
Shapps, who joined British Foreign Secretary David Cameron for meetings in Canberra, said this risk was most acute in the Indo-Pacific, a clear reference to the possibility of Chinese President Xi Jinping deciding to invade the self-governing island of Taiwan.
A $US60 billion ($90 billion) aid package for Ukraine has been stalled in the US Congress because of opposition from congressional Republicans, and there are fears Donald Trump would decline to support its war effort if he wins power in November.
Marles announced on Thursday that Australia would join an international drone coalition led by the UK and Latvia, which aims to provide thousands of drones to Ukraine.
“This is a really important opportunity for us to continue making our contribution to the effort to have Ukraine stay the course and be able to resolve this conflict on its terms,” Marles said.
Details of Australia’s contribution are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Shapps said he was “very, very excited” that Australia would join the drone coalition, saying uncrewed systems were playing an increasingly significant role in modern warfare.
As well as helping Ukraine, the initiative would spur innovation among drone manufacturers in Australia and boost the local defence industry, he said.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said he was “very grateful” to Australia for agreeing to Ukraine’s request to join the drone coalition.
Marles and Shapps signed a “status of forces agreement” that obliges the UK and Australia to consult each other if their sovereignty is threatened, a similar arrangement to the ANZUS treaty between Australia, the United States and New Zealand.
Marles said the pair were surprised that such a treaty-level agreement did not exist before, given the closeness between the UK and Australia.
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