AUKUS alliance: Our $368bn, missile-packed freedom fleet of submarines

Australia will immediately start work on a plan to transform our defence capabilities that will deliver two types of nuclear subs to help counter China’s growing military expansion.

Anthony Albanese, left, and Joe Biden at the AUKUS submarines announcement in San Diego on Tuesday (AEDT). Picture: Getty Images

Australia will start work immediately on a historic $368bn plan to transform the nation’s defence capabilities that will ultimately ­deliver two types of nuclear-­powered submarines packed with long-range strike missiles to help counter China’s growing military expansion.

The plan will be put into action this year, with more regular port visits by US nuclear subs, accelerating the training of Australian submariners as hundreds of ­defence industry workers are embedded in US and British submarine production lines.

Standing alongside Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak at San Diego’s Point Loma Naval Base, Anthony Albanese said the ­submarine plan marked a new chapter in the ­nation’s ties with the US and Britain – a relationship underpinned by shared values, a commitment to democracy and a common vision for a peaceful future.

“Our historic AUKUS partnership speaks to our collective and ongoing determination to defend those values and secure that future – today, in the years ahead, and for generations to come,” the Prime Minister said.

“We embark with great confidence in the capacity and creativity of our people – with optimism in the power of what our partnership can achieve, and with an unwavering conviction that whatever the challenges ahead, the cause of peace and freedom will prevail.”

Extended rotational deployments of up to four US and one British nuclear submarine will commence from 2027, before Australia acquires at least three Virginia-class nuclear submarines by the end of the next decade.

A planned eight “AUKUS class” boats will be built in Adelaide, rolling off the production line from 2042 amid a parallel construction effort in Britain producing the same submarines.

Both types of submarine will have vertical launch tubes, ­allowing them to fire Tomahawk missiles at land and maritime ­targets, and be able to traverse vast distances silently without needing to surface.

Australia’s pathway to acquiring nuclear submarines will ­require Australia to lift its defence budget by at least 0.15 percentage points to an estimated 2.35 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade. But the pain for taxpayers of Australia’s biggest single capability investment will be deferred until after the next election, with $9bn in offsets from the existing Defence budget to cover the first four years of the program.

Peter Dutton vowed bipartisan support for the plan, but warned Labor must not raid other areas of the Defence budget to pay for the new submarines.

“We have to make sure that there is transparency and honesty with the Australian people about the cost involved in AUKUS,” Mr Dutton said. “It’s not credible for the government to say that there’s no net impact, even over the forward estimates. We can’t allow Labor to cannibalise the Defence Force to pay for AUKUS. It’s not an either/or option.”

Beijing reacted furiously to the announcement, saying the AUKUS partnership was “typical Cold War mentality” that would stoke “an arms race” and undermine the international non-proliferation system, in Beijing’s first official comments after the mammoth defence acquisition was announced.

“Peace-loving countries have expressed serious concern and firm opposition to the damage to regional peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday evening.

China was offered a briefing on the plan but was yet to accept the offer on Tuesday night.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Serge Lavror said the AUKUS pact would bring “years of confrontation” in Asia.

“The Anglo-Saxon world, with the creation of structures like AUKUS and with the advancement of NATO military infrastructures into Asia, is making a serious bet on many years of confrontation,” Mr Lavrov said.

Indonesia, which had publicly expressed concerns over the ­nuclear non-proliferation implications of the agreement, said maintaining regional peace was the responsibility of all countries, and it expected Australia to “remain consistent in fulfilling its obligations” under the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Under the agreement, Australia will have to construct a high-level nuclear waste facility to decommission and store the radioactive material from the submarines’ reactors once their operational life ends.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the facility would be built on Defence land but it was too soon to say whether it would be in South Australia, which will gain the lion’s share of the economic benefits during the AUKUS-class boat construction phase.

A decision on the location of the waste dump was at least 12 months away, Mr Marles said.

The US President said work on the AUKUS submarine endeavour would begin “straight away”, and followed more than a century of military co-operation between the US and its “most stalwart and capable allies”.

Mr Biden said the partnership demonstrated “how democracies can deliver our own security and prosperity — and not just for us but for the entire world”.

Mr Sunak invoked former US president John F. Kennedy’s “higher purpose”, articulated 60 years ago, to strive for “freedom, peace, and security”.

“AUKUS matches our enduring commitment to freedom and democracy with the most ­advanced military, scientific, and technological capability,” the British Prime Minister said.

The cost of the plan will hit the budget from 2023-24, but will ­initially be covered by $6bn from the now-cancelled French Attack-class boats, and another $3bn from Defence’s long-term investment plan. Mr Marles refused to say what capabilities would be cut to pay for the budget reallocation, saying details would be provided in the defence strategic review.

The multi-stage AUKUS plan promises the delivery of Virginia-class submarines from the US in 2033, 2036 and 2039 to help maintain Australia’s submarine capability until the first of Australia’s British-designed AUKUS-class submarines rolls off the Adelaide production line from a scheduled 2042. Subsequent AUKUS boats are scheduled to be delivered at three-year intervals.

Mr Albanese said: “This will be an Australian sovereign capability, built by Australians, commanded by the Royal Australian Navy, and sustained by Australian workers in Australian shipyards with construction to begin this decade.”

The government has the option of buying a fourth and fifth ­Virginia-class submarine from the US in the 2040s if there is a delay to the schedule on the first-of-type AUKUS submarine. The sale of the Virginia-class submarines will require approval from congress, potentially leaving it vulnerable to shifts in US domestic politics.

Mr Marles said he was confident that congress would ultimately approve the deal given the strong bipartisan support for AUKUS in the US system.

An increasing number of Australian personnel will train aboard US and UK submarines over time, while the US will accept more Australians into its nuclear propulsion training programs.

The government has vowed to put in place the highest levels of nuclear safety, including managing all radioactive waste and disposing of spent nuclear fuel.

It says the AUKUS plan would create 20,000 direct jobs over the next 30 years across industry, government and Defence.