Friday, March 17, 2023

What is AUKUS? With China Spooked by Nuclear Subs Deal, a Look at the Agreement

By: Vidushi Sagar
News18.com
MARCH 14, 2023

US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership.
 Reuters/FILE (Image: Reuters)


Explained: AUKUS is the term given to the security agreement reached by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are traveling “further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest,” China’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, responding to an agreement under which Australia will purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the U.S. to modernize its fleet.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the arrangement, given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States — arises from the “typical Cold War mentality which will only motivate an arms race, damage the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, and harm regional stability and peace.”

U.S. President Joe Biden flew to San Diego to appear with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as they hailed an 18-month-old nuclear partnership that enables Australia to access nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and more capable than conventionally powered vessels, as a counterweight to China’s military buildup.

Biden emphasized the ships would not carry nuclear weapons of any kind. Albanese has said he doesn’t think the deal will sour its relationship with China, which he noted had improved in recent months.


BUT WHAT IS AUKUS? NEWS18 EXPLAINS:

AUKUS is the term given to the security agreement reached by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (A-UK-US) in the end of 2021. The first and largest part of the agreement is the submarine contract, also known as Pillar One.

Both the United Kingdom and the United States, which have nuclear-powered submarines, agreed to collaborate with Australia and provide schematics for their subs so that Australia might build its own, explains a report by ABC.

The second AUKUS pillar will involve improving our defence capabilities with the assistance of the UK and the US in general.

Biden views the partnerships and alliances in the region as cornerstones for U.S. strategy for years to come. Asked if AUKUS would survive if a new, more isolationist president was elected — a veiled reference to Donald Trump, who is running for another term — Biden said yes.

The secretly brokered AUKUS deal included the Australian government’s cancellation of a $66 billion contract for a French-built fleet of conventional submarines, which sparked a diplomatic row within the Western alliance that took months to mend.


The US is sharing a once highly-guarded missile system that will make British and Australian nuclear submarines far more deadly

Tom Porter
Mar 14, 2023,
The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan arrives for a regularly scheduled port visit while conducting routine patrols throughout the Western Pacific in Busan, South Korea, 
 Jermaine Ralliford/Courtesy U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

The US is sharing submarine missile launch tech with allies to counter China.
 
The subs would be equipped to fire hypersonic missiles capable of evading air defense.
 
The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between China and the US.


The US is sharing once-secret submarine missile launch technology with Australia and the UK as part of a pact to counter growing Chinese military power in the Pacific region, reports say.

The US, UK, and Australia on Monday announced plans for Australia to obtain a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

Under the AUKUS pact, which was first unveiled in 2021, the US will sell Australia three of its nuclear-powered submarines, while the UK and Australia will collaborate to build new vessels - a model that is being called SSN - AUKUS.

The deal will involve building at least eight nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian naval fleet, using UK designs, and underpinned by a US-made vertical launch system.

Sidharth Kaushal, an analyst at London's Royal United Services Institute, said that technology gives the submarines the capacity to fire hypersonic missiles, which can evade defense systems.

"Hypersonic missiles are important as they have the speed and range to penetrate defended airspace and hit hardened targets," he told Insider. "For nations which do not have stealth bombers (everyone excluding the US) they may represent the only way of striking targets at reach within well defended enemy airspace."

According to reports, the new Australian submarines will also have the capacity to fire cruise missiles through the vertical launch system.

The fact that they are nuclear-powered means the submarines can operate at far greater distances, and stay submerged for longer.


Until the AUKUS pact, the UK was the only country with which the US had shared its nuclear submarine technology.

The new Australian submarines will begin operation in the 2040s, and the new UK subs in the 2030s. In the interim, the US and UK will berth nuclear submarines in Perth, Western Australia.

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