SYDNEY, Sept 27 (Askume) – Australia and Britain said they would sign a bilateral deal to produce new nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership, which also includes the United States.
Australia will purchase Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the United States over the next decade , and under the AUKUS agreement announced in 2023 , the UK and Australia will later build new AUKUS submarines in Barrow-in-Furness, England, and South Australia.
“We will be negotiating a treaty, a bilateral treaty, between Australia and the UK to allow us to implement our AUKUS component.
“We will be operating the same class of submarines. So when you think about industrial cooperation, technology transfer and how all these mechanisms work, it is a matter of treaty,” he said.
British Defence Minister John Healey said the AUKUS defence ministers meeting also agreed to use British-made Stingray torpedoes on the P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, which are used as submarine hunting aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that as part of the AUKUS “second pillar” cooperation, AUKUS partners conducted critical experiments on land, underwater, and in the electromagnetic spectrum to enhance warfighting capabilities.
AUKUS partners are enhancing their capabilities to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies and will conduct large-scale drone exercises later this year, a joint statement said.
