Britain’s defence secretary has warned that distracted democracies risk emboldening dictators, as Australia prepares to pump almost $5 billion into the United Kingdom’s production lines to fast-track the AUKUS military pact and joins an international coalition to provide drones to Ukraine, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The Australian and UK foreign and defence ministers will on Friday announce that a joint venture between British defence giant BAE Systems and Australian government-owned ASC will build the proposed fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to be known as SSN-AUKUS.
The submarines, which are currently being designed, are scheduled to enter service with the Australian navy in the early 2040s.
Australia will inject $4.6 billion into the British industrial base over 10 years under the deal in a bid to avoid the delays that have bedevilled past naval projects. The submarines will be built at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyards, incorporating a British Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor and American components.
This comes on top of the $4.5 billion Australia is providing to expand the American industrial base to allow it to sell three US-built Virginia-class submarines to the Australian navy in the early 2030s as a stop-gap measure until the SSN-AUKUS arrives.
The government will use the announcement to show the AUKUS pact is on track despite the recent news that America will decrease its production of nuclear-powered submarines.
The full article is here.
