AUKUS to go ‘full steam ahead’ Washington vows
Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth have provided strong assurances about the future of AUKUS, arguing the Pentagon’s review was aimed at strengthening the security partnership so it works ‘for Australia, the US and UK’.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have provided strong assurances about the future of AUKUS, arguing the Pentagon’s review was aimed at strengthening the security partnership “so that it works for America, for Australia and for the UK.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles met with their US counterparts for the 40th AUSMIN meetings in Washington on Monday morning local time, with the talks coming just days after the Pentagon’s AUKUS review was finalised.
Mr Rubio made clear that the key endorsement paving the way for AUKUS to proceed had been made by Donald Trump himself in his White House meeting with Anthony Albanese in October.
“At the direction of the President, AUKUS is ‘full steam ahead’ as he (Mr Trump) said. And I know the Department of War … has conducted a review. It’s a review about how we can expand this relationship. About how to build on it so that it can be about many things,” Mr Rubio said.
In prepared remarks, Mr Hegseth again quoted the US President by saying that it was a case of “full steam ahead” on AUKUS and applauded Australia’s “upcoming delivery of an additional $1bn to help expand US submarine production capacity.”
“We are strengthening AUKUS so that it works for America, for Australia and for the UK,” he said. “There’s a lot we are going to do together in the months ahead.”
He said the AUSMIN talks were an opportunity to discuss the “practical realistic ways that our two countries can come together to ensure that we provide peace through strength for both of our nations.”
“The stronger we are together, the more we can deter the kinds of conflicts neither of us want to see. And this is a deepening of that partnership.”
Mr Rubio said the partnership between Canberra and Washington was “an incredibly strong alliance,” noting that Australia was the only American ally who had “fought with us in every war” over several decades.
“We think we have a lot of momentum behind this alliance coming off the visit of the Prime Minister here in October,” he said. “We felt very strongly after that that we got real momentum.”
“We truly have no better friend,” Mr Rubio said.
He also stressed how “deeply committed” Washington was to the quadrilateral security dialogue between Japan, Australia, India and the United States. “We’ll continue to build on that in the year to come,” he said.
“We have a lot of things we work together on,” Mr Rubio added.
Both Mr Rubio and Mr Hegseth reflected on the importance of the $US8.5bn ($13.5bn) critical minerals framework that was signed during Mr Albanese’s meeting with the US President – aimed at shifting the supply of critical minerals and rare earths away from China.
“I know we have also signed a landmark critical minerals framework agreement,” Mr Rubio said. “This is something we share in common, not just with Australia, but with many of our allies around the world – the desire to diversify supply chains. And the belief that, in order for us to be able to do anything – whether it’s defend our countries, defend our allies or defend each other but also to build our economies into prosperous economies – we have to have critical mineral supplies and supply chains that are reliable and that are diverse.
“This is something that you will find the US and Australia working very closely on. And it’s at the cornerstone of everything we plan to do together in the months and years to come.”
Mr Hegseth outlined the force posture initiatives taking place with Australia, noting that both nations were “working on defence industrial co-operation.”
“First on force posture initiatives, we are upgrading the infrastructure on air bases in Queensland and the Northern Territory – that allows for additional US bomber rotations,” he said. “We are upgrading logistics and infrastructure in Darwin so more US marines can do rotational deployments and pre-positioning MV-22 Ospreys. This establishes new and resilient logistics networks across Australia.”
“We are deepening our co-operation on the defence industrial base; co-operation on guided weapons production and future capabilities; two-year road maps on Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise; ground breaking co-operative actions on things like GMLRS (Guided Missile Launch Rocket Systems); precision strike missiles,” he said. “And we are working toward co-production and co-sustainment of hypersonic attack cruise missiles; co-sustainment air-to-air missiles; co-operative programs across the board including Mark 54 torpedoes.”
Senator Wong said the work done together by Australia and America was “indispensable to a peaceful stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”
She described America as Australia’s “principal ally and our principal strategic partner” and noted that both nations were together navigating volatility while investing in one another and the stability of the Indo Pacific region.
Senator Wong said that Australia’s approach to the alliance had always been to ensure its benefits delivered for both US and Australia, adding that AUKUS was “critical to that” endeavour.
“We welcome President Trump’s statement ‘we are full steam ahead,’” she said.
Mr Marles said that Australia’s relationship with the United States was the “most important relationship that we have” and described the ANZUS alliance as the cornerstone of Australian strategic and foreign policy.
“We are living in a much more contested world,” he said. “It really matters to be doubling down with friends and allies – obviously America is front and centre.”
Mr Marles said that the US President had provided the “motto” for the AUSMIN talks by ensuring it was “full steam ahead” with the AUKUS agreement.
“It is very much full steam ahead in terms of the alliance, in terms of progress on AUKUS, in preparing ourselves for the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force West by the end of 2027. That is a significant moment in the journey of AUKUS.”
He said there had been an increased number of visits of US nuclear powered submarines to Australia “including the USS Vermont which has been at HMAS Stirling over the last six weeks or so where it’s undergone the most extensive maintenance that a US nuclear submarine has undertaken outside of the United States.”
Mr Marles said it was “so important going forward to make very clear in our region that Australia and America stand side-by-side and working together to contribute to the peace and security of the Indo Pacific.”
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