UK (Commonwealth) _ As part of the AUKUS security agreement with the US and Australia, Britain has awarded BAE Systems a £4 billion contract for the construction of “powerful attack” submarines.
According to BAE Systems, it has received funding from the Ministry of Defence to cover development work through 2028, enabling it to begin detailed design work on the submarines.
A five-year contract for input into the specific design of the new submarines was also announced by the British defense company Babcock Marine. Details of the AUKUS proposal to build a new fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines to patrol the Pacific Ocean starting in the early 2030s were revealed by the UK, US, and Australia in March.
In order to help fight China’s aspirations in the Indo-Pacific area, the cooperation has been established.China criticized the agreement, saying the three signatories had “gone further down a dangerous road” and had “disregarded” the concerns of the international community.
The submarines, which will be nuclear-powered and conventionally armed, would be the “most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy,” according to Defence Secretary Grant Shapps. In the AUKUS submarine program, he remarked, “This multi-billion-pound investment will help deliver the long-term hunter-killer submarine capabilities the UK needs.”
The submarines will “enable the Royal Navy to maintain our strategic advantage under the sea,” Mr. Shapps continued. The company stated it will support 5,000 employment and that the contract would provide money for infrastructure work at the BAE Systems facility in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
The Astute class of submarines, which are built by BAE Systems, the largest defense company in Britain with about 93,000 employees spread across over 40 nations, will progressively be replaced by the newer models. The first SSN-AUKUS vessel is scheduled to be delivered in the late 2030s once the submarines begin to be manufactured before the end of the decade.
According to Charles Woodburn, chief executive of BAE Systems, this financing strengthens the government’s support for our UK submarine enterprise and enables us to mature the design and invest in vital infrastructure and capabilities to support our long-term national security.
According to the UK government, Australia will aim to expand its “submarine industrial base” during the following ten years. The government also stated that the first Australian submarines will be made accessible in the early 2040s.
All submarines from the UK and Australia will have nuclear reactors provided by Rolls-Royce. In September 2021, the UK, US, and Australia established a “landmark” partnership to strengthen their defenses and exchange nuclear submarine secrets. It happens at a time when worries about Chinese actions in the Pacific Ocean are escalating.
AUKUS’ initial priority will be on assisting Australia in acquiring its massive fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. As the leaders convened in California, a deal was announced for Australia to buy the submarines. The submarines will be powered by nuclear energy, but their weapons will be conventional, not nuclear.
The US also plans to sell three Virginia class submarines to Australia starting in the early 2030s, with the option to sell up to two more if necessary, subject to US Congress approval. The AUKUS collaboration has a wider scope than just helping Canberra acquire a new fleet of submarines, which was its initial goal.
Providing a “assured undersea capability” that “contributes to stability, peace, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world” is the goal, according to an AUKUS briefing sheet. The US and the UK will both station submarines at the HMAS Stirling base near Perth starting in 2027.
Since the beginning, China claimed the security agreement “intensifies the arms race” and “jeopardizes the international efforts in promoting the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons” shortly after it was revealed in September 2021.
