11/15/2023 0 Comments Nuclear submarine drawing![]() ![]() “This is necessary to ensure that the Australian Defence Force can shape, deter and respond to likely challenges in the region.” “It’s important that Aukus not only makes progress but also retains its focus on new capabilities that can be acquired rapidly and will significantly boost deterrence,” the defence thinktank said. “We hope Aukus can help develop a genuinely seamless defence industrial base across the US, the UK and Australia.”Ī report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi), released on Thursday, recommended further investment in other Aukus streams like hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence technology, to help plug a capability gap while the submarines are built. The benefits of doing so get us this capability sooner but also provides economic benefits in terms of workforce and productivity. That is why in terms of getting these submarines sooner, we need to develop our own contribution to an industrial base here at home. “If we were to rely solely on the US and the UK, it will be a while before we get them. “It’s really clear that we will have to develop the capacity in Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines,” Marles said. “The exchange of these personnel will be both ways and won’t just involve our submariners,” he said. Mead said the navy was investigating workforce challenges, such as how to build and crew the ships – which may involve placing Australian staff in British and American nuclear schools or agencies, laboratories and shipyards V Adm Jonathan Mead, the chair of the nuclear submarine taskforce, also spoke of protecting “sea lanes” on the call. “Trade is fundamental to that and, therefore, making sure that we are able to have freedom of navigation of the seas and of the air above them is really central to our economy.” “We need a highly capable defence force which has the rest of the world take us seriously and enables us to do all the normal peaceful activities that are so important for our economy,” he said. Marles linked the Aukus arrangement not only to military but economic security, saying a boosted submarine fleet would protect freedom of navigation through vital shipping routes. The cost of the submarine program is not yet known but is expected to be in the tens of billions. “We are on to our next design and our new one and that might well be fully shared with all three nations as a collaborative design,” he said. In a press conference with Marles in the UK earlier this month, the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said future submarine designs may see a combination of British, American and Australian components. “While the outcome is yet to be determined, it would be better if we’re in a position where what we’re doing is genuinely a trilateral effort.” “It’s obviously much better if you are operating a platform which other countries operate as there is a shared experience and a shared industrial base to sustain it,” he said. Marles said the government was not ready to announce which type of submarines would be built but hinted Australia’s design could be “trilateral” in nature. The government is said to be choosing between building American or British ships, or some hybrid. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning The government plans to give answers to five questions by that time: the final design when it can be acquired what capability gap that timeline will create and solutions to plug it the cost and how Australia’s plans comply with nuclear non-proliferation obligations. In a briefing call with journalists this week, he said the current timeline had Australia slated to make initial announcements in the first part of 2023. Marles, also the deputy prime minister, said the first steps toward acquisition of nuclear submarines were on track. ![]() A cornerstone of that arrangement, which also includes cooperation on quantum computing and cyberwarfare, is Australia’s acquisition of closely guarded technology to build nuclear submarines. The former prime minister Scott Morrison announced the Aukus pact, a military agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, on 15 September 2021. ![]()
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