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Wednesday, June 11, 2025 4:28:15 PM
‘Beijing would rejoice’: AUKUS in jeopardy as US reviews its role
"Aukus: 10 things we need to know about Australia’s nuclear submarine program"
Jessica Gardner United States correspondent
Jun 12, 2025 – 2.43am
Los Angeles | Australia’s $300 billion-plus plans to build and acquire nuclear submarines to protect against Chinese military action in the Indo-Pacific are in jeopardy after the United States launched a review into the AUKUS defence pact.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) that Eldridge Colby, a sceptic of the military pact between Australia, the US and the United Kingdom, would weigh up America’s ongoing contribution .. https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/leaders/why-this-boss-says-aukus-is-a-waste-of-time-20250529-p5m3f1 .
USS Minnesota (SSN-783) Virginia-class fast attack submarine off the WA Coast, where it has been based for the past month. AFP
The three-decade-long plan for Australia to build and acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines through shared manufacturing and technology capabilities was agreed between the three allies in 2023, after it was first proposed in 2021.
Australia is ramping up capability to build an attack submarine class known as the SSN-AUKUS, due to come into service in the early 2040s. But to fill a gap in the fleet before then, as a number of older vessels are retired, the US has committed to selling up to five Virginia-class submarines to Australia from 2032.
American critics of AUKUS say the country should prioritise its military needs, given the US Navy is struggling to meet its own goal of producing more submarines.
Democrat representative Joe Courtney, a long-time supporter of AUKUS with shipbuilding facilities in his Connecticut district, said while the Trump administration had the right to review the deal, it was in the best interest of the three nations.
“To abandon AUKUS – which is already well underway – would cause lasting harm to our nation’s standing with close allies and certainly be met with great rejoicing in Beijing,” he said in a statement.
“To walk away from all the sunk costs invested by our two closest allies – Australia and the United Kingdom – will have far-reaching ramifications on our trustworthiness on the global stage and is a direct contradiction to the administration’s ‘America First, but not alone’ goal of countering aggression from China, Russia, and other adversaries.”
Muted criticism
If Washington pulled out of AUKUS it would be a huge blow to the Australia-United States alliance. Some in Canberra are already frustrated .. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/pm-stares-down-trump-on-tariffs-and-defence-20250601-p5m3v8 .. that the decades-long military and economic relationship has not protected Australia from sweeping tariffs imposed by the mercurial President Donald Trump, including 50 per cent duties on more than $1 billion in steel and aluminium sent to the US each year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the tariffs are “not the act of a friend” but has otherwise refrained from stronger criticism of Trump, as some other Western leaders have.
The pair is due to meet on the sidelines of the G7 leaders summit early next week in Canada, which would be their first face-to-face meeting.
Underlining the topsy-turvy nature of foreign affairs since Trump’s re-election for a second term, the US president announced a deal between Beijing and Washington .. https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/trump-says-us-china-deal-is-done-as-officials-agree-truce-20250612-p5m6rk .. on Wednesday to maintain tariffs at their current, lower levels following talks in London this week.
“WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55 per cent TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10 per cent. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform, in his characteristic all-caps fashion.
Rising Taiwan conflict threat
Trump has spent the week in Washington lauding the US military, after he federalised state forces of the National Guard and sent Marines to protect immigration crackdown efforts in Los Angeles. He is also preparing for a rare military parade in the nation’s capital on Saturday.
[Insert: Illegally federalised, would have been a more accurate news report of that Trump federalisation.]
As part of the AUKUS agreement, Australia has agreed to invest up to $US3 billion in US shipyards to boost capability, and has already forwarded the first payment of $US500 million on January 29 .. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-has-500-million-reasons-to-back-aukus-it-might-not-be-enough-20250209-p5lap0 .
Eldridge is a former defence department official who has said that, given the rising threat of conflict in Taiwan in the coming years, it would be “crazy” for the US to leave itself with fewer submarines than without the deal.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth used a meeting with Defence Minister Richard Marles in Singapore in recent weeks to implore Canberra to boost its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product .. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/us-demands-australia-spend-40b-more-on-defence-20250602-p5m436 . Australia will spend about 2.05 per cent of GDP on defence in 2025-26 and the figure is forecast to rise to 2.33 per cent by 2033.
Adam Leslie, the executive director of the US affiliate of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, supported Washington’s right to review AUKUS and expressed confidence in the bilateral relationship.
“The alliance in general is bigger than AUKUS,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “Regardless of how the Americans examine it and pull it to pieces, the Australian-US alliance will remain steadfast.”
Leslie said US efforts to get allies to spend more on defence were “reasonable”. “If you want to be the beneficiary of the alliance construct, then you need to contribute in a manner that… even, based on your capability and size and budget.”
The AUKUS deal also paves the way for co-operation on advanced defence capabilities in technology areas such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, known as the ‘pillar two’ part of the agreement.
“Pillar two is almost, if not more, important to military capability and interoperability than pillar one is,” Leslie said, adding he expected it would continue regardless of the outcome on submarines.
https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/aukus-in-jeopardy-as-pentagon-reviews-us-role-20250612-p5m6rm
"Aukus: 10 things we need to know about Australia’s nuclear submarine program"
Jessica Gardner United States correspondent
Jun 12, 2025 – 2.43am
Los Angeles | Australia’s $300 billion-plus plans to build and acquire nuclear submarines to protect against Chinese military action in the Indo-Pacific are in jeopardy after the United States launched a review into the AUKUS defence pact.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) that Eldridge Colby, a sceptic of the military pact between Australia, the US and the United Kingdom, would weigh up America’s ongoing contribution .. https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/leaders/why-this-boss-says-aukus-is-a-waste-of-time-20250529-p5m3f1 .
USS Minnesota (SSN-783) Virginia-class fast attack submarine off the WA Coast, where it has been based for the past month. AFP
The three-decade-long plan for Australia to build and acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines through shared manufacturing and technology capabilities was agreed between the three allies in 2023, after it was first proposed in 2021.
Australia is ramping up capability to build an attack submarine class known as the SSN-AUKUS, due to come into service in the early 2040s. But to fill a gap in the fleet before then, as a number of older vessels are retired, the US has committed to selling up to five Virginia-class submarines to Australia from 2032.
American critics of AUKUS say the country should prioritise its military needs, given the US Navy is struggling to meet its own goal of producing more submarines.
Democrat representative Joe Courtney, a long-time supporter of AUKUS with shipbuilding facilities in his Connecticut district, said while the Trump administration had the right to review the deal, it was in the best interest of the three nations.
“To abandon AUKUS – which is already well underway – would cause lasting harm to our nation’s standing with close allies and certainly be met with great rejoicing in Beijing,” he said in a statement.
“To walk away from all the sunk costs invested by our two closest allies – Australia and the United Kingdom – will have far-reaching ramifications on our trustworthiness on the global stage and is a direct contradiction to the administration’s ‘America First, but not alone’ goal of countering aggression from China, Russia, and other adversaries.”
Muted criticism
If Washington pulled out of AUKUS it would be a huge blow to the Australia-United States alliance. Some in Canberra are already frustrated .. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/pm-stares-down-trump-on-tariffs-and-defence-20250601-p5m3v8 .. that the decades-long military and economic relationship has not protected Australia from sweeping tariffs imposed by the mercurial President Donald Trump, including 50 per cent duties on more than $1 billion in steel and aluminium sent to the US each year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the tariffs are “not the act of a friend” but has otherwise refrained from stronger criticism of Trump, as some other Western leaders have.
The pair is due to meet on the sidelines of the G7 leaders summit early next week in Canada, which would be their first face-to-face meeting.
Underlining the topsy-turvy nature of foreign affairs since Trump’s re-election for a second term, the US president announced a deal between Beijing and Washington .. https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/trump-says-us-china-deal-is-done-as-officials-agree-truce-20250612-p5m6rk .. on Wednesday to maintain tariffs at their current, lower levels following talks in London this week.
“WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55 per cent TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10 per cent. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform, in his characteristic all-caps fashion.
Rising Taiwan conflict threat
Trump has spent the week in Washington lauding the US military, after he federalised state forces of the National Guard and sent Marines to protect immigration crackdown efforts in Los Angeles. He is also preparing for a rare military parade in the nation’s capital on Saturday.
[Insert: Illegally federalised, would have been a more accurate news report of that Trump federalisation.]
As part of the AUKUS agreement, Australia has agreed to invest up to $US3 billion in US shipyards to boost capability, and has already forwarded the first payment of $US500 million on January 29 .. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-has-500-million-reasons-to-back-aukus-it-might-not-be-enough-20250209-p5lap0 .
Eldridge is a former defence department official who has said that, given the rising threat of conflict in Taiwan in the coming years, it would be “crazy” for the US to leave itself with fewer submarines than without the deal.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth used a meeting with Defence Minister Richard Marles in Singapore in recent weeks to implore Canberra to boost its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product .. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/us-demands-australia-spend-40b-more-on-defence-20250602-p5m436 . Australia will spend about 2.05 per cent of GDP on defence in 2025-26 and the figure is forecast to rise to 2.33 per cent by 2033.
Adam Leslie, the executive director of the US affiliate of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, supported Washington’s right to review AUKUS and expressed confidence in the bilateral relationship.
“The alliance in general is bigger than AUKUS,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “Regardless of how the Americans examine it and pull it to pieces, the Australian-US alliance will remain steadfast.”
Leslie said US efforts to get allies to spend more on defence were “reasonable”. “If you want to be the beneficiary of the alliance construct, then you need to contribute in a manner that… even, based on your capability and size and budget.”
The AUKUS deal also paves the way for co-operation on advanced defence capabilities in technology areas such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, known as the ‘pillar two’ part of the agreement.
“Pillar two is almost, if not more, important to military capability and interoperability than pillar one is,” Leslie said, adding he expected it would continue regardless of the outcome on submarines.
https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/aukus-in-jeopardy-as-pentagon-reviews-us-role-20250612-p5m6rm
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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