Australian nuclear subs high priority for US

Delivering Australia nuclear submarines ‘as early as possible’ is high on the agenda, US defence chief Lloyd Austin has vowed.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. Picture: AFP

Delivering Australia nuclear submarines “as early as possible” was high on the US government’s agenda as it braced for an intense period of competition with China, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed after unveiling the next generation of US stealth bombers.

A few days before defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong were due to visit Washington for annual Ausmin talks with their US counterparts, Mr Austin said in a speech that the US was determined to “bend the arc of history toward liberty” in defiance of Beijing.

China was “the only country with both the will and, increasingly, the power to reshape its region and the international order to suit its authoritarian preferences”, Mr Austin said at a defence conference at the Reagan National Defence Forum in California on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).

“So let me be clear: We will not let that happen.”

In his remarks the US Defence Secretary highlighted the AUKUS agreement with Australia and the UK, whereby the three nations promised in September last year to boost their defence co-operation, including supplying Australia with nuclear-powered submarines by 2040, as a counterpoint to Beijing’s growing power and aggression.

“We‘re charting the best pathway for Australia to acquire a nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarine as early as possible – all while upholding the highest non-proliferation standards,” Mr Austin said.

The B-21, which the Pentagon has kept under wraps for the better part of a decade, was unveiled Friday in Palmdale, California. Picture: Reuters

Mr Marles will separately take part in the first meeting of AUKUS defence ministers along with UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, in Washington, likely to be the last such meeting before the government releases early next year the specific design and procurement process for replacing to the ageing Collins Class submarines.

Mr Austin’s remarks came a day after the Defence Secretary unveiled the next generation of US stealth bombers, the first in three decades, the B21 Raider, developed jointly with Northrop Grumman, at a cost over the life of the production schedule at least $US203 billion, according to estimates provided to Bloomberg.

“Fifty years of advances in low-observable technology have gone into this aircraft. And even the most sophisticated air-defence systems will struggle to detect a B-21 in the sky,” Mr Austin said, in separate remarks in Palmdale north of Los Angeles on Friday night, after a dramatic evening showcasing that gave the public its first glimpse of the new aircraft.

“We will soon fly this aircraft, test it, and then move it into production. And we will build the bomber force in numbers suited to the strategic environment ahead”.

The batwing shaped aircraft, which will be able to carry both conventional and nuclear bombs, is part of a modernisation program of US defence forces aimed to make “it plain to any potential foe: The risks and costs of aggression far outweigh any conceivable gains”, Mr Ausin said.

The Defence Secretary’s California trip came at the end of a week the Pentagon released its annual update on the size and potential of the Chinese military, which included estimates that the People’s Liberation Army would maintain a stock of around 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, more than triple the current level.

“These next few years will set the terms of our competition with the People’s Republic of China. They will shape the future of security in Europe,” Austin said, reiterating US determination to keep supplying Ukraine with weapons and economic aid for so long at Kyiv determined it would continue to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

“And they will determine whether our children and grandchildren inherit an open world of rules and rights — or whether they face emboldened autocrats who seek to dominate by force and fear.”