Australia will spend up to $368 billion to deliver the historic AUKUS deal as China issued a chilling warning.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the massive spending alongside US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego on Tuesday.
Australia will command a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines within the next three decades under a fast-tracked plan to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
The announcement came as Chinese president Xi Jinping warned the country would strengthen its military in response to the AUKUS plan.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the massive budget as he unveiled the AUKUS plan alongside US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego on Tuesday
Australia will command a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines within the next three decades under a fast-tracked plan to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific
He addressed the National People’s Congress on Monday saying the military would be bolstered to create a ‘great wall of steel’, labelled security the ‘bedrock of development’ and accused Western colonial powers of ‘national humiliation’.
‘We must fully promote the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces, and build the people’s armed forces into a great wall of steel that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests,’ he said.
Canberra will acquire three US Virginia-class nuclear submarines as a stop-gap from approximately 2033 before a new SSN-AUKUS-class hybrid vessel arrives in Australian waters a decade later as part of the trilateral alliance with the UK and US.
The cost to taxpayers will come in at an eye-watering $268-$368 billion over the next three decades.
The plan will take $9 billion from the budget’s bottom line across the next four years and $50-58 billion over the next decade.
The annual cost will then be around 0.15 per cent of GDP until the mid-2050s, but there are warnings about the exact number due to the unpredictability of inflation in three decades’ time.
Mr Biden reiterated the submarines would be ‘nuclear powered’ and not ‘nuclear armed’.
‘Australia is a proud non-nuclear weapons state, and it’s committed to stay that way,’ he said.
‘These boats will not have any nuclear weapons of any kind on them.
‘Each of us standing here today representing the United States, Australia and Great Britain, is deeply committed to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime.’
‘AUKUS has one overriding objective. To enhance the stability of the Indo-Pacific amid rapidly shifting global dynamics. In this first project, this first project is only beginning.’
An American submarine for Australia will roll off the production line every three years before the new AUKUS class will be built at a similar rate from 2042.
Australia’s current Collins-class submarines are due to come out of service in the late 2030s.
The plan ensures Australia will always have a baseline fleet of six submarines and have the option to buy an additional two Virginia-class submarines should there be any delays.
The UK will construct and use the first AUKUS sub from the late 2030s and acquire an estimate of eight to 12 of the same type.
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Four American nuclear-powered submarines and one UK vessel will begin rotating through Western Australian naval bases from as early as 2027 to boost Australia’s ability to operate its own vessels in the 2030s and 2040s.
About 20,000 jobs will be needed for the project and operation of the new fleet with Canberra to lend support to the American production line
Increased visits from US and UK nuclear submarines will also begin from next year.
By the 2040s, Australia will have built and begun delivering the SSN-AUKUS submarine – the same vessel that the UK will have in the water a few years prior.
The crew size will be about 100.
The next-generation UK-designed vessel will incorporate technology from all three nations, including cutting edge US technology.
It will have a US nuclear reactor, to be built in the UK.
The vessel will also feature a joint US-Australia combat system – already on the Collins – and a US-Australian heavyweight torpedo
They will have US-nuclear propulsion plant systems and components, and combat systems.
Shipbuilders in Adelaide and Western Australia will join those in America and Britain in helping construct the new submarines.
About 20,000 jobs will be needed for the project and operation of the new fleet with Canberra to lend support to the American production line.
National security expert John Blaxland said this would help both countries.
‘Australia contributing financially and sending people to work in that space is actually helping guarantee that quid pro quo,’ Professor Blaxland said.
‘So we scratch their back, they’ll scratch ours.’
Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie pledged the coalition’s support but also promised to hold the government to account.
‘We’ll be focusing on timing, sequencing and budget,’ he said.
‘But of course it’s really important that we don’t make these submarines a political football.’
