AUKUS pact backed by secret Pentagon review, paving way for more US investment
The findings of the Pentagon’s secret five-month review into the AUKUS submarine deal review has been handed down amid Donald Trump’s “America first” agenda.
The Pentagon’s secret months-long AUKUS review has fully endorsed the trilateral submarine pact and the US is now poised to pour more resources into its marine industrial base to meet demand for the program, a US congressman has revealed.
Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee Joe Courtney said after reviewing the report which is yet to be released publicly, he was confident the defence partnership would continue.
“The Pentagon’s five-month review endorsed the AUKUS agreement and correctly determined that its framework is aligned with our country’s national security interest,” Mr Courtney said.
“The AUKUS report reaffirms that Congress and our Australian allies must continue that effort to achieve the goals of AUKUS.
“Expanding the submarine workforce, supply chain, and facilities to even greater capacity is the clear pathway to meet the demands of US submarine fleet requirements and those of our ally Australia.”
The congressman, who is also co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Australia Caucus, noted the significance of the AUKUS pact surviving changes of government and reviews in all three countries.
“The statutory authority enacted by Congress in 2023 will remain intact, including the sale of three Virginia-class submarines starting in 2032,” he said.
“The report correctly determined that there are critical deadlines that all three countries have to meet.
“Therefore, maintaining disciplined adherence to schedule is paramount,”
He said in order to keep to the strict deadlines, Congress would work to boost the US submarine industrial base within the fortnight.
It would build on the billions already poured into the defence pact by the three countries.
“With that investment, US submarine shipyards are now delivering tonnage output near all-time highs,” he said.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell also gave a hopeful assessment of the review.
“The Department of War (DOW) has concluded its review of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Partnership (AUKUS). The purpose of the review was to identify opportunities to strengthen AUKUS and ensure its long-term success, in alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda.
He continued: “During the review, the Department consulted extensively with the U.S. interagency as well as Australia and the United Kingdom. Consistent with President Trump’s guidance that AUKUS should move “full steam ahead,” the review identified opportunities to put AUKUS on the strongest possible footing.
“This review is intended to inform the President and our allies as we move forward with the historic and ambitious AUKUS agenda,” Mr Parnell concluded.
Doubts were raised over the future of the submarine pact when the Trump administration announced it would review the program to ensure it met the President’s ‘America first’ agenda.
Those concerns were eased somewhat in October when Anthony Albanese met with Donald Trump at the White House where the US President said the pact would endure.
Mr Trump’s Chief of Navy added there were plans to clarify “ambiguity” in the terms and “make it better” for all three signatories.
It is not yet clear what those improvements will include.
It comes after acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said the Australian government had received a copy of the review and it was clear the US government was “100 per cent supportive”.
“What’s really important here is the United States is completely supportive of AUKUS, as the President of the United States made clear, and all of us moving ahead in his words, full steam ahead,” Mr Marles said.
“And so this is a program that we are doing, meeting all of our milestones.
“It’s fundamentally important in terms of Australia’s national interest, but this really is very central to the United States’ national interest as well.”
Mr Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit Washington next week where they will meet with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).
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Originally published as AUKUS pact backed by secret Pentagon review, paving way for more US investment
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