How Donald Trump can launch AUKUS into space
Time has borne out what I said to President Trump on the White House South Lawn in September 2019: While Australia may look to the US as a vital ally, we will never leave it to America alone to deal with security issues.
In that spirit, in early 2020 as prime minister I assigned a small team to engage Washington about the possibility of Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarine technology. Two years later the AUKUS agreement among Australia, the UK and the US was born, amid bipartisan support in all three nations. Now, it’s time for AUKUS to grow, and Mr Trump is the right person for the job.
AUKUS is a platform for collective deterrence against an axis of autocratic regimes threatening global and regional security, especially in the Indo-Pacific. The agreement’s first pillar enables Australia’s acquisition of its first nuclear-powered sub fleet. Its second pillar facilitates cooperation on advanced military capabilities, from quantum computing to hypersonic missiles. The Chinese Communist Party opposed AUKUS vehemently — confirming its strategic value.
AUKUS isn’t like other alliances. There are no free riders. Each nation must bring its own capability, commitment and strategic clarity to the table.
Australia is doing its part. Under Pillar I, by 2029 we will have invested up to $3billion directly into the American defence industrial base to increase nuclear submarine production capacity. No other US ally can make that claim. We are building our own fleet of SSN-Aukus submarines with the UK and upgrading infrastructure in Western Australia to support, service, and operate American, UK, and Australian submarines from our western coast.
Some observers reacted to the Pentagon’s current review of AUKUS as if it spells the alliance’s doom. But a review – which isn’t unusual for an incoming administration – is a chance to refocus and recalibrate.
The review is motivated by the shortfall of US nuclear-submarine production. The current output of Virginia-class submarines is about 1.3 a year, below the 2.33 needed to meet both Aukus and American naval commitments. This threatens the timeline for Australia to acquire its first boats from the US and ultimately undermines deterrence. Mr Trump’s commitment to fixing this shortfall is welcome and essential.
America is also calling on Australia to lift its defence spending to above 3% of gross domestic product. That isn’t an unreasonable request. The US can’t be expected to carry the world’s security burden in isolation, and Washington has been right to push for similar commitments from allies in and outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Australia stood with America in every major conflict for over a century, even when others turned their backs. Our interests and loyalties are strongly aligned. A stable Indo-Pacific is critical to Australia’s security and prosperity. That includes protecting the status quo in Taiwan, freedom of navigation, and the rule of law. Washington can rely on us to turn up when it counts.
As the Trump administration examines how to improve AUKUS, there’s another important factor — space. If our nations are serious about deterrence, then we must prepare for new theatres of geopolitical competition. The global space economy now exceeds $630 billion and is projected to nearly triple in value by 2035. But space is no longer a benign domain. It is contested, competitive and strategically vital. As General Stephen Whiting, commander of US Space Command, warned Congress, space superiority has become foundational to homeland defence and global deterrence.
Beijing is already operating dual-use civil-military technology across its space sector—launching maneuverable satellites, conducting co-orbital rendezvous operations, and testing systems capable of disabling adversary assets, such as its Shenlong spaceplane. China has also deployed ground-based lasers and high-powered microwaves capable of targeting Western satellites. Russia regularly jams satellite communications and spoofs GPS, and Moscow has tested destructive antisatellite capabilities.
No American president since John F. Kennedy has shown more commitment to space than Mr Trump, from backing the Artemis Moon to Mars program to creating the US Space Force and promoting commercial innovation through public-private partnerships and now the Golden Dome. That leadership makes him the natural champion of an AUKUS Pillar III that consolidates cooperation across launch systems, satellite architecture, cybersecurity, data integration and industrial innovation.
This would enable better coordination of allied space policies and create shared standards across defense and commercial systems. It should also provide a platform for integrating non-Aukus allies such as Japan and NATO members into the same architecture. That would make clear that the allies’ space systems are resilient, interconnected and can’t be targeted in isolation.
Australia brings unique advantages to this effort. We already host US assets like the Space Surveillance Telescope and C-Band radar in Western Australia. We’re also leading the AUKUS allies’ effort to develop Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability, or DARC. Due to be operational in 2026, DARC will track objects in geosynchronous orbit, which includes some of the most valuable and vulnerable satellite assets.
Our Southern Hemisphere geography gives us lines of sight inaccessible from the north. Australia is the only Five Eyes nation in the southern half of the planet with the large landmass and secure jurisdiction critical for both passive surveillance of space and active launch capabilities.
Our private space sector is also already working to establish new sovereign launch capabilities. I’m proud to be part of Space Centre Australia’s initiative to establish the Atakani Space Port near Weipa in northern Queensland. At a latitude of only 12 degrees south, it will be the closest equatorial launch site in a secure allied jurisdiction, superior in location to Florida’s Cape Canaveral or Texas’s Boca Chica. For polar orbits, Australia also has Whalers Way in southern Australia. Both launch corridors provide secure and commercially viable solutions for allied and dual-use payloads. These are the launchpads of deterrence in the space age.
Establishing a Pillar III would ensure that space, the ultimate high ground, is secured by free nations, not our enemies. America and Australia have stood shoulder to shoulder on land, at sea and in the skies. Now we must do the same in orbit.
Scott Morrison served as Australia’s prime minister from 2018-22 and is vice-chairman of American Global Strategies.
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