Missiles approved but US Congress to vote on submarines sale
The US Congress is expected to hold a vote on whether to sell Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia before the presidential election next year.
The US Congress is expected to hold a vote on whether to sell Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia before the presidential election next year, greatly increasing the chances of the multibillion-dollar deal going ahead.
It comes as the US State Department approved the sale of up to 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of around 2500 km to Australia, in a deal that would dramatically increase the strike capability of the ADF.
Co-lead of the Defence Strategic Review Peter Dean said Australia needed to urgently progress the deal for the missiles and “actually put the order in” or risk ending up at the “back of the queue” for the capability that would be direly needed in the event of a conflict.
“The reason we need to move quickly to put that order in is there is a global shortage of these, (and) Japan has just announced they want to buy 400,” he told The Weekend Australian.
“If you wait too long you could end up at the back of the queue and you could be literally waiting years and years to get them.”
Defence Minister Richard Marles would not confirm how many missiles would be ordered or when, saying only that having longer-range strike missiles was critical to keeping “Australia safe”.
Professor Dean said that in the event of a conflict, Australia would not be invaded but instead simply cut off from supply lines by an enemy naval force, making the missiles critical to deter and target the vessels that could surround Australia in such a situation.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior fellow Malcolm Davis said the missiles were “designed for high-intensity warfare if we if we’re facing a threat from China”.
“The Chinese are developing very long-range anti-ship missiles that are supersonic. So what we don’t want to do is unnecessarily put our naval forces at risk by forcing them to get really close to that,” he said. “The missiles give us that ability to stand off and fire at greater range in terms of a Chinese naval force.”
The missiles would be carried by the three to five US Virginia-class submarines, which Australia will buy, giving the navy an offensive strike power far greater than it has ever had.
Head of the Nuclear Powered Submarine Taskforce Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead said he was confident congress would approve the sale of Virginia-class submarines to Australia.
“We are still finalising the arrangements with our (US) partners on this, but we are very confident that congress will pass this,” he told The Weekend Australian.
“The US is absolutely committed to the optimal pathway on the SRF (Submarine Rotational Force), on the transfer of the Virginias, and also in the trilateral program with SSN-AUKUS.
“They understand the need for us to deliver this capability early, safely, and methodically. That is something I have no doubt about.”
Admiral Mead did not comment on when congress might vote, but well-placed sources have told The Weekend Australian that a vote is expected to take place before the US presidential election in November 2024 and most likely within the next 12 months.
This would almost certainly mean that the submarine sale would be approved given the level of bipartisan support in the current congress for the AUKUS plan.
Sources say that while there would be some congress members who might vote no to the deal because they fear that selling US submarines would weaken the US navy, the vast majority would be expected to support the deal.
The development follows comments from former prime minister Paul Keating, calling the AUKUS pact “the worst deal in all history” and raising alarm with Australia’s reliance on the US.
But Professor Dean said Mr Keating had moved into an area of “complete conjecture” and “rewriting of history”.
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