The U.K. Government says its recent £6 billion investment in AUKUS defence facilities will soon enable production of a new submarine every 18 months.
The claim was made in the wake of an AUKUS summit this week in America between its Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the Defence Secretaries from the U.K. and Australia: John Healey and Richard Marles, respectively.
The meeting was called following a U.S. review of the trilateral defence arrangement; as per a U.K. Government press statement, the outcome was positive and the AUKUS partnership is now “full steam ahead.”
Under the AUKUS agreement, the U.S. will begin selling some of her Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s.
A new class of nuclear attack submarines — the SSN-AUKUS-class — is to be built by BAE Systems; they are due to begin entering service with the Royal Navy in the late 2030s and the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s.
The U.K.’s 2025 Strategic Defence Review included plans to build “up to 12” of the new SSN-AUKUS class nuclear-powered, conventionally armed attack submarines to operate alongside its forthcoming Dreadnought-class subs.
These will take over from the nuclear-missile-armed Vanguard boats which provide the U.K’s Continuous At Sea Deterrent (CASD); the SSN-AUKUS class will replace the Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarines.
U.K. Defence Secretary Healey commented: “Our reviews are done. Now, we deliver….The work builds on the UK leadership as part of the Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine, and the UK’s move to be at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, including through the pioneering hybrid Navy approach announced earlier this week.
“Britain is also providing increased technical and military assistance to Australia through the Geelong Treaty to accelerate Australian capability to operate nuclear-powered submarines.”
The U.K. press statement noted: “The U.K. is backing this commitment with action, investing £6 billion under the current government into critical infrastructure at Barrow and Derby that will realise the ability to construct a new AUKUS submarine every 18 months.”
U.S. Secretary of War Hegseth remarked: “You see through AUKUS and the review that we conducted a continued commitment to a pragmatic, practical application of hard power between our countries that reflects peace through strength, and also hard power — real capabilities — that demonstrate a deterrent effect that we all want.”
- You can read more details on the UK Government website and the U.S. DoW website