US Navy cuts Virginia-class submarine from budget in potential blow to pact

Washington: The US Navy is cutting a Virginia-class submarine from its latest budget in a move that critics fear could send a troubling signal to Australia and other nations about Washington’s commitment to the AUKUS military pact.

Three months after a divided US Congress finally passed legislation to help Australia acquire nuclear-propelled submarines, the US Navy has proposed removing an attack submarine from its 2025 spending plan, in a tacit recognition that American shipbuilding yards are struggling with the pace of keeping its local fleet healthy.

Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak at an AUKUS announcement in San Diego in March 2023.Credit: AP

Democratic congressman Joe Courtney said if approved, the navy’s proposal could have “a profound impact” on it and the Australian Navy, and make it harder to assuage concerns about America’s ability to deliver on AUKUS while maintaining its own industrial base.

“One of the big questions with AUKUS was: will it provide enough submarines to keep the US fleet at an adequate level and will it produce enough submarines to satisfy the three boats that we agreed to sell?” Courtney told this masthead.

AUKUS was unveiled by Australia, the UK and US in 2021 as part of a broader strategy to counter China’s economic and military advances in the Indo-Pacific.

Last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the US had agreed to sell three to five Virginia-class boats to Australia. But to achieve this, American submarine manufacturers would have to build at least two boats a year, from a current yearly average of 1.2.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Congressman Joe Courtney (grey suit) and (from left) senators Roger Wicker, Dan Sullivan and Jack Reed during his state visit last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Courtney, a ranking member of the powerful House Armed Services committee, said if the proposed cut was enacted “it will remove one more attack submarine from a fleet that is already 17 submarines below the navy’s long stated requirement of 66”.

“Given the new commitment the Department of Defence and Congress made last year to sell three submarines to our ally Australia, which I enthusiastically support, the ramifications of the navy’s proposal will have a profound impact on both countries’ navies,” he said.

Concerns about the US Navy’s budget cut came as army chiefs for Australia, the UK and the US gathered in Washington to talk up the importance of AUKUS and of shared co-operation, particularly at a time of growing instability in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe.

“In an era of great power competition, defence and security is once again a whole of nation endeavour, but even more so, it requires us to work even more closely and in a more integrated fashion with allies and with partners,” said Australian Lieutenant General Simon Stuart.

A Virginia-class submarine.

In Congress, however, billions of dollars in funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan have been in limbo for months due to partisan divisions between Republicans and Democrats as they head towards a presidential election in November.

Ukraine, for instance, desperately needs more military funding to fight Russia, but after two years of warfare, many Republicans now oppose continuing to spend billions of dollars to help the sovereign nation.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, the British Army’s chief of general staff, described the war in Ukraine as “the principal pressure point on a really fragile world order”.

Sanders also warned that failing to counter Russia’s aggression would consign future generations to a world that was infinitely more unstable and perilous.

“So for now, Ukrainian blood … and bravery is buying time, but they need our support,” he said. “It is not just morally right to do that, it is in our own self-interest because preserving our future security by supporting Ukraine is much better value than fighting a war.”

Sanders, Stuart and General Randy A. George, the chief of staff of the US Army, were speaking at a forum at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, soon after news of the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2025 priorities emerged.

However, the idea of a submarine cut had been touted earlier, prompting members of the House Armed Services Committee to write to Biden in January, warning him that “any deviation from the planned cadence of the construction and procurement of two submarines per year will reverberate both at home and abroad, with allies and competitors alike”.

Courtney said addressing the issue would be “a high priority” for committee members in coming months.

The US Defence Department’s 2025 funding request lays out about $US849.8 billion of investments for the next financial year. Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks told reporters on Monday that the budget request had to be capped due to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which seeks to limit government spending in the US.

“Because of these statutory caps, and as good stewards of taxpayer dollars, we made smart, responsible choices to work within those limits,” she said.

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