AUKUS on ‘life support’ ahead of Donald Trump takeover
The alarm is sounding over the future of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact in anticipation of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
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AUKUS is on “life support”, according to a founding member of the US congressional group backing the pact, with the Republican sounding the alarm as Donald Trump prepares to take power.
As US Navy chiefs conceded they were struggling to reverse submarine production delays, ex-congressman Mike Gallagher urged the new administration to “go to war on day one” with the Pentagon to rebuild America’s maritime industrial base and prevent AUKUS stalling.
The President-elect has appointed several supporters of the pact to key national security roles, although uncertainty over his view of AUKUS has sparked concern in Canberra.
It can be revealed that two-thirds of Australia’s $US3bn investment in American submarine production will flow during Mr Trump’s first year in office, in what looms as a timely boost as his administration is faced with the challenge of keeping the pact on track.
Another $US100m will be paid to the US annually for a decade after that.
Under the trilateral deal unveiled three years ago, Australia will buy three nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s while building its own fleet in South Australia.
Mr Gallagher, who was a member of Congress until April, was a co-chair of the bipartisan congressional AUKUS working group set up to ensure its progression.
But earlier this month, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, the Hudson Institute distinguished fellow said the incoming Trump administration needed to rebuild the maritime industrial base to “help save AUKUS … which is in danger of stalling”.
Mr Gallagher’s warning was followed by Rear Admiral Jon Rucker – who spearheads America’s submarine building program – acknowledging the US Navy was failing to meet milestones it had set to accelerate production of its nuclear-powered Virginia-class vessels.
“I’ll be frank. There are some risks to achieving these goals,” he told an industry event.
“We have done great things and we’ve made progress, but more is needed. This is our north star … This is the challenge of our time.”
The timing of Australia’s investment in the American maritime industrial base is set to bolster that effort, amid suggestions from sources involved in AUKUS in Washington DC that Mr Trump could seek to renegotiate the pact to extract more money from Australia.
Ahead of the transfer of power, the Biden administration is reportedly pushing Congress to inject another $US6bn into the submarine building program as part of a stopgap government funding deal.
Mr Gallagher also proposed a series of other ideas to “get AUKUS off life support”, including fast-tracking US submarine deployments to Western Australia which are currently due to begin in 2027, and increasing the number of Australian sailors training on US boats.
In the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said he was “really confident” the incoming president would stick with the pact, arguing it was “really deeply embedded across the political spectrum in all our three countries because it is in the strategic interests of all our three countries”.
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