AUKUS submarines ‘bigger, better, faster, bolder’ than existing US versions

Nuclear-powered submarines to be built in Australia under AUKUS with the US and Britain will be substantially bigger than the US Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.

US Navy Virginia-class submarine USS Mississippi arrives at Fleet Base West, Rockingham, Western Australia for a routine port visit.

The nuclear-powered submarines to be built in Australia under the AUKUS agreement with the US and Britain will be substantially bigger than the US Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.

Australian Submarine Agency director-general Jonathan Mead tells The Australian’s defence special report that at 10,000 tonnes, the conventionally armed SSN-AUKUS will be a “bigger, better, faster and bolder”, evolution of Britain’s Astute-class submarines.

By comparison, Australia’s six Collins-class submarines are each about 3300 tonnes and the US existing Virginia-class boats are just over 7000 tonnes.

The SSN-AUKUS will have strong US technological input. Its nuclear reactor will be built by Britain’s Rolls-Royce but with significant American enhancements.

Vice-Admiral Mead says all five of Australia’s SSNs will be built at Osborne in South Australia, which will become one of the world’s most advanced technology hubs. They will be built from Australian steel if the metal passes rigorous testing now under way.

Australian Submarine Agency director-general Jonathan Mead.

The US has ordered the same Australian steel to assess its suitability for its submarine construction industry.

The massive scale of the program and the nuclear element has attracted strong attention, including criticism and questions about how skilled workforces will be found to build and crew the boats. Commentary has included suggestions that AUKUS is “dead in the water”.

Vice-Admiral Mead is emphatic the program can be completed as planned via an “optimal pathway” to build the expertise to give Australia a highly effective deterrent force rapidly in the face of a deteriorating strategic situation.

About 100 Australian naval personnel will be on US training programs this year and will serve in US subs. Others training in Britain will serve in Royal Navy boats. Some have already passed nuclear training courses.

Two Australian officers topped their courses.

Australian military personnel and civilians are undergoing intensive training designing, building, maintaining and crewing SSNs. Some have been training aboard the US submarine tender USS Emory S. Land for several months and will work on a US Virginia-class boat that will visit the HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia for maintenance later this year.

Senior American military officials say that as the program develops, they are planning to have several hundred Australians gaining long-term operational experience as fully integrated crew members in 25 US Navy SSNs. American officials have said they saw big advantages in Australia having SSNs, and in the US having access to the HMAS Stirling.

The optimal pathway plan is intended to see the first of several US and UK submarines operating from HMAS Stirling as Submarine Rotational Force-West from 2027.

In 2032, the US will transfer the first of three Virginia-class submarines to the RAN. The goal is to have the first SSN-AUKUS completed in Australia by the early 2040s.