A spokeswoman for Marles responded to the letter,saying:“The optimal pathway for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines is taking shape,and an announcement remains on track to be made in the first part of this year.
Minister of Defence Richard Marles.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“AUKUS will significantly transform Australia’s strategic posture and the work undertaken over the last 16 months speaks to a shared mission between Australia,the United Kingdom and the United States.”
The government has said it will announce which type of submarine it will acquire by March,after receiving a recommendation from Jonathan Mead,the head of the Nuclear Powered Submarine Taskforce.
Outgoing US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos said the US-Australia relationship was “in great shape,but there are some big challenges ahead,particularly bedding down AUKUS and getting that implemented”.
“That’s a particular challenge,” he said in a podcast released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) on Friday.
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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said securing a small number of Virginia-class submarines from the US would be the best way to bridge a looming capability gap between the retirement of the current Collins Class fleet and arrival of locally manufactured nuclear-powered submarines around the early 2040s.
The idea has been widely dismissed on the grounds American shipbuilding yards are struggling to meet the US Navy’s needs and don’t have capacity to build submarines for Australia.
The fact Reed and Inhofe felt a need to challenge the proposal,however,suggests it is being taken seriously at the highest levels in Washington.
They warn Biden that that selling or leasing Virginia-class submarines to Australia would “make the US Navy less capable of meeting sovereign wartime and peacetime requirements”.
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“Make no mistake,we recognise the strategic value of having one of our closest allies operating a world-class nuclear navy could provide in managing long-term competition with an increasingly militaristic China,” they write.
“However,such a goal will take decades to achieve,and we cannot simply ignore contemporary realities in the meantime.”
Democratic congressmanJoe Courtney,chair of the House seapower subcommittee,toldThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Agelast month:“I don’t think the notion of purchasing a Virginia[class submarine] is off the table.”
Courtney,the co-chair of the Friends of Australia caucus,said:“I am very bullish on the fact that if you give shipbuilders a plan that contains a demand signal and the resources,this is not just pie-in-the-sky stuff.”
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US congressman Rob Wittman,the top Republican on the House of Representatives’ sea power subcommittee,previously said:“There’s been a lot of talk about well,the Australians would just buy a US submarine. That’s not going to happen.”
William Stoltz,policy director at the Australian National University’s National Security College,said the senators’ letter showed the challenges involved in an “intergenerational” pact like AUKUS.
“This is a 100,if not 150,year venture we’re making and it assumes our interests and politics will remain in alignment over that time,” he said.
Stoltz said that as well as advancing the US-Australia alliance,American politicians also have their own domestic considerations to consider.
ASPI executive director Justin Bassi said:“The issue of constraints on defence industrial base capacity is a known issue,not just for the US but globally.
“It is important to remember that AUKUS is not just about helping Australia,but about aligning the national strategies of three close allies to deliver practical improvements to our collective defence and security capabilities.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.