Eighteen months ago, when Aukus first saw the light of day, it was hailed as the grandest of strategic masterstrokes – an audacious vision for America, Britain and Australia to work together to equip the Australian navy with nuclear-powered attack submarines. Now, with this week’s announcement by the three countries’ leaders of the outline of a plan to make it all happen, the vision looks even bigger and bolder.
In just a few years, America and Britain will begin to rotationally deploy up to five of their nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) to Perth. In 10 years, America will begin to transfer up to five of its Virginia-class SSNs to Australia, and in the meantime Australia and Britain will collaborate with America to design a new class of submarine – the SSN (Aukus) – which will be built in both Australia and Britain for their respective navies.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Read the full story and more at $9.90/month
Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month
ST One Digital
$9.90/month
No contract
ST app access on 1 mobile device
Unlock these benefits
All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com
Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device
E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you