AUKUS alliance: Fleet chief has runs on board

Anthony Albanese says the AUKUS submarine fleet will be a sovereign capability ‘built by Australians and commanded by the Royal Australian Navy’.

Chief of the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Taskforce Vice-Admiral Jonathan Mead in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Anthony Albanese says the AUKUS submarine fleet will be a sovereign capability “built by Australians and commanded by the Royal Australian Navy”.

The Prime Minister’s clear indication that the navy will take a leading role in the game-changing defence project follows The ­Australian revealing this week that the submarine program would be run by a stand-alone group inside defence.

The former commander of the Australian Fleet, Jonathan Mead, is understood to be the initial leader of the group.

Vice-Admiral Mead served in the navy for almost 40 years before being appointed under the previous government in September 2021 to head up one of the most significant projects the Australian Defence Force had seen, the ­Nuclear Powered Submarine Task Force.

In the next 18 months, Vice-­Admiral Mead met British and American counterparts in person on more than a dozen occasions and was taken into top-secret ­defence facilities in both countries which “no other Australian has ever been exposed to before”.

Vice-Admiral Mead said the three nations had very much ­started on the AUKUS project with “a blank canvas”, following Australia’s decision to tear up the contract that the Turnbull gov­ernment had signed with France’s Naval Group for a fleet of 12 ­conventionally powered sub­marines.

“The industrial base, workforce training and education pathways, stewardship and security … dom­inated the work over the past 18 months,” Vice-Admiral Mead said.

“Our US and UK colleagues … have worked tirelessly with us.

“They have shown us facilities that no Australian has ever been exposed to before.

“They have had a deep and immersive look at Western Australia and South Australian facilities.”

Described by former defence minister Peter Dutton as having been involved in AUKUS “from the beginning”, Vice-Admiral Mead said the three countries had settled on what was “the optimal pathway” for AUKUS to progress.

Before being appointed as the head of the submarine taskforce, Vice-Admiral Mead was the commanding officer on HMAS Parramatta, during which time he was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia for his exceptional service in war-like con­ditions in the north Arabian Gulf.

Vice-Admiral Mead went on to serve as Australia’s defence ­adviser to India, the director of naval personnel policy, head of navy capability, commander of the Australian fleet and chief of joint capabilities before agreeing to lead the Nuclear Powered Submarine Task Force.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said securing submarines earlier than the 2040s, through a deal with the US to buy three US-made Virginia-Class submarines off the shelf, was “a breakthrough” achieved by Vice-Admiral Mead.

“It‘s really one of the big breakthroughs that Admiral Meade has been able to achieve since the election, to get to a point where we are now having the ability to operate an Australian-flagged vessel in the early 2030s,” Mr Marles said.