The Australian defence procurement minister announced today $262 million AUD ($163 million USD) to help Australian companies as Australia tries to boost its business across the AUKUS enterprise, but some analysts are sceptical, Breaking Defense reports.
The new investment is meant to “support local defence industry uplift and develop Australia’s AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine supply chain,” a Defence Ministry statement said.
Specifically, it said the new money would go toward three initiatives: the Defense Industry Development Grants Program designed to give Aussie AUKUS-related businesses a “timely uplight [in] funding,” the Global Supply Chain Program designed to “increase Australian participation in trilateral supply chains,” and the Defence Industry Vendor Qualification Program designed to expand and accelerate the introduction of Australian products into American supply chains.
Broadly speaking, the ministry statement said the government over the next two years will “fund a range of initiatives to uplift our local defence industry, supporting around 125 businesses across Australia to invest in their own capabilities to meet the high standards of submarine build and sustainment activities in AUKUS nations.”
The $262 million was included in the end of year budget announcement but received little attention. Today’s announcement includes a link to a website where companies can register their interest.
Three analysts who spoke to Breaking Defense were split on the value of the move, which could be important in building both popular and industry support for AUKUS, often described as a “generational effort” for Australia as it considers spending some $368 billion to buy at least three US-built Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines and a small fleet of Australian-built SSN AUKUS boats.
“Today’s announcements are of little tangible substance. It’s akin to the Australian Government having a ‘concept of a plan’ for pushing the AUKUS concept into another year. It is all good and well to signal commitment to local jobs and economic windfall as a byproduct of a net-security uplift in the Indo-Pacific (for which Australia will continue to prosper), but real actionable evidence is what is needed,” Elizabeth Buchanan, senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, wrote in an email to Breaking Defense. “Cut the steel.”
“The Albanese Government must not continue to treat the Australian public as bystanders in our own security dialogue, and repackaging or dusting off old announcements is borderline offensive. Of the businesses that have since qualified (a handful) there is limited evidence of their steps to become fully integrated into the US and/or UK supply chain. Instead, we have Australian defense industry sitting around waiting for evidence of real commitment to purpose for delivering on AUKUS endeavors,” Buchanan wrote.
Marcus Hellyer, a top Australian defense budget and procurement expert, was similarly unimpressed by the announcement.
Hellyer noted that Australia has contributed vast sums to the United States and Britain — $4.7 billion ($3 billion USD) to the US and $4.6 billion ($2.8 billion USD) over 10 years to the UK — to boost the nuclear-powered submarine defense industrial base.
“Looks like it’s 1/18th of what we have put into uplifting each of the US and UK’s industrial bases,” wrote Hellyer, “or, put another way, we seem to be putting 36 times as much into other countries’ industrial bases as we are putting into our own […].”
The third analyst, Jennifer Parker, a top naval expert at Australian National University, however, said the $262 million “does make a difference. It’s an important step in preparing Australian businesses to support the nuclear-powered submarine supply chain. An extensive effort that requires improving security and safety standards, including meeting ISO 19443 — the globally recognised nuclear safety standard.”
Is it enough? “It’s a good start,” Parker wrote, “but only time will tell if it’s truly sufficient.”
