Military experts have suggested that Australia will acquire nuclear submarines built by Britain rather than the United States as part of the Aukus defence pact.
Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, will leave for the US on Wednesday. He is expected to be joined in San Diego by President Biden and Rishi Sunak at the US Navy’s second-largest naval base. Reports suggest they will discuss the sharing of top-secret nuclear technology under
Aukus, an agreement between the nations that was announced in September 2021.
One of Australia’s leading defence experts, John Blaxland, head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, has raised the prospect that Australia will acquire UK- built nuclear propulsion submarines as a stopgap until it is able to build its own.
Blaxland said that Australia favoured smaller British submarines. “The US produces larger boats but its production line is at capacity, while the British option is smaller and easier to crew,” Blaxland wrote on The Conversation. “Crew size is a critical limitation for the Australian submarine arm, which has challenges crewing even the significantly smaller Collins-class submarines.
“With Britain facing significant financial pressures, a couple of submarines from the UK production line may act as a lifeline to its naval construction industry, while also providing the Albanese government with the promise of a face-saving submarine delivery before the end of the decade.”
An alternative option, according to Breaking Defense, an American website, is that the leaders could announce the use of British nuclear reactors paired with American-made boats.
Peter Dutton, a former Australian defence minister and now the leader of the opposition, said last week that as defence minister he was advised that British submarines posed issues. These included a lack of production capacity in Britain and reservations about the “interoperability” of the submarines with those made by the US, Australia’s closest defence ally.
Australia’s defences face a serious capability gap when its existing, locally built, Collins-class diesel submarines are retired in the 2030s after 33 years in service.
There have been reports that Britain is prepared to sell Australia two Astute-class nuclear submarines, HMS Agamemnon and HMS Agincourt, which are due for completion in 2024 and 2026 respectively.
The Sun reported last month that Sunak’s government had reached an agreement in principle to provide the Royal Australian Navy with British-designed and at least partially built nuclear-powered submarines, worth an estimated £2 billion each.
A spokesperson for the British government later said: “While talks are ongoing, we will not prejudge the outcome of the current scoping period, which is being used to understand Australia’s capability requirement.”
At 97 metres long, Astute-class submarines are the largest and most advanced attack craft ever built for the Royal Navy. They can circumnavigate the globe submerged, producing their own oxygen and drinking water, and incorporate a suite of advanced sensors.
The submarines carry both Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes, providing a range of offensive capabilities.