AUKUS subs to receive US combat ‘brains’
The trilateral AUKUS partnership has taken its biggest leap forward since the submarine agreement was struck with a deal to install a US-designed combat system on future nuclear boats.
The trilateral AUKUS partnership has taken its biggest leap forward since the submarine agreement was struck with a new deal to install a US-designed combat system on Australia’s and Britain’s future nuclear boats.
A fortnight after US President Donald Trump declared “full steam ahead” on the submarine program, the lead shipbuilder for the AUKUS-class subs has sealed a deal with three key partners to deliver the brains of the boats.
The agreement will see the AN/BYG-1 combat system – used on Australia’s Collins-class submarines and US nuclear-powered submarines – incorporated into the design for the nuclear-powered boats to be built in Adelaide and Britain.
The British-owned shipbuilder BAE Systems will sign the deal on Wednesday morning at the Indo-Pacific Maritime Expo in Sydney with the combat system designer, General Dynamics Mission Systems, together with Raytheon Australia and French-owned company Thales.
The advanced software system will integrate the boats’ weapons and sensor controls, and typically accounts for about 20 per cent of a submarine’s costs.
The agreement will ensure commonality between the future Australian and British systems, and requires the UK to switch from using its own combat system.
BAE Systems Australia chief executive Craig Lockhart said the deal was a major strategic milestone, ensuring the SSN-AUKUS submarines would receive “the most effective and advanced combat system” available.
He said it would “accelerate and enhance combat system development that is interoperable by design”, delivering a world-class submarine for both countries.
Raytheon Australia will integrate the system into the SSN-AUKUS boats while Thales will deliver the subs’ advanced sonar array.
General Dynamics Mission Systems vice-president Laura Hooks said the companies would be “entrusted to sustain and integrate combat systems aboard Virginia and AUKUS submarines in the future, ensuring continuity, confidence and low-risk delivery”.
The deal comes after the Chief of Navy, Admiral Mark Hammond, declared Australia was “well on track” to obtaining and operating nuclear-powered submarines, initially with the purchase of three US Virginia-class submarines.
“Many of our submariners are now passed through the US Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion sources, and are growing their professional mastery on board Virginia-class submarines,” he told the Sea Power Conference, on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific expo.
“In fact, every US Navy nuclear submarine operating out of Pearl Harbor by the end of this year will have Australian submariners on board.”
He said Australian personnel were also undertaking maintenance of the USS Vermont Virginia-class submarine in Western Australia in a major milestone for the AUKUS program.
“We’ve got command of the submarine. It’s not just historic for us. It’s historic for them,” Admiral Hammond said. “We are building an ecosystem here that can assure the availability, readiness and lethality of nuclear-powered submarines from Australia.
“That’s to the benefit of the US Navy, that’s to the benefit of the Australian navy, and it will enable us to build that level of competency to assume custody of a nuclear submarine in a few years’ time.”
Earlier, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy announced South Australian company PMB Defence would partner with BAE Systems to supply advanced nickel zinc batteries for the AUKUS submarines in a contract worth more than $34m.
The company, which supplies Collins-class submarines’ main storage batteries, has added 20 staff as a result of the agreement.
“This is about more jobs for Australians, more capability into the Royal Australian Navy (and) supporting our allies, the United Kingdom and the US,” Mr Conroy said.
Meanwhile, he defended the presence of Israeli defence companies at the Indo-Pacific expo, as pro-Palestine activists rallied outside the event at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.
He said Australia did not sell military equipment to Israel but would continue to purchase the country’s world-leading military technology. “In terms of them supplying the ADF, we make no apology for getting the best possible equipment for the Australian Defence Force,” he said.
“We make no apology for making sure our soldiers, sailors and aviators have the best equipment to protect Australia’s interests, promote deterrence in our region, and that includes sourcing parts from companies throughout the world.”
Labor was buoyed by Mr Trump’s public support for the AUKUS pact during Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to Washington. He said the deal had proceeded too slowly under Joe Biden but was now going “very well” and “moving very rapidly”.
However, US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said the Trump administration wanted to “clarify some of the ambiguity” in the submarine agreement, in an apparent reference to an “America-first” review of the deal under way.
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