“For folks who say,‘Oh,you know,the industrial base is backed up’. Says who?” Courtney said. “If you have a plan and if you have the resources,history tells us this capacity is capable of increasing.”
The House members note America’s submarine manufacturing industry has been strained by the COVID pandemic but argue it could expand to meet both the US and Australia’s needs.
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“While it is essential to maintain a minimum of two submarines a year for the United States to meet our national security requirements,we are supportive of expanding the industrial base to meet AUKUS expectations,” they write.
“We particularly believe that an expansion of our industrial base beyond two submarines would support the early provisioning of existing Virginia class submarines to be made available concurrent with the retirement of the Collins class attack submarines.”
Plugging a looming capability gap between the retirement of Australia’s current Collins-class submarines in the 2030s and the arrival of locally made nuclear-powered submarines is a key issue being considered by the government’s nuclear-powered submarine review,which will report in March.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has urged the Albanese government to buy two Virginia-class submarines off-the-shelf from Connecticut as an interim solution,but leading US political and military figures have warned American shipyards are already running at full capacity.
In their letter to Biden,the House members say AUKUS should be viewed as a “unique opportunity to leverage the support and resources possible under AUKUS to grow our industrial base to support both US and Australian submarine construction,recognising that the full fruition of AUKUS over many decades will result in Australia’s ability to domestically produce nuclear-powered submarines”.
Acknowledging the difficulty of the task ahead,the letter writers note making AUKUS a reality will “likely require many statutory,regulatory and policy changes that require bipartisan Congressional support and approval – and the sooner that these discussions can begin,the better”.
Democratic Senator and Armed Services Committee chairman Jack Reed,who co-authored theoriginal letter to Biden warning about the progress of AUKUS,said on Twitter:“I’m proud to support AUKUS,the United States’ historic military agreement with the UK and Australia.
“This powerful partnership is central to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific,dramatically improving the capabilities of our allies,and increasing our engagement in the region.
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“Importantly,AUKUS also lays the foundation for the most significant integration of our undersea and other military capabilities ever achieved.”
In his leaked December 21 letter to Biden,written with Republican colleague John Inhofe,Reed said:“We are concerned that what was initially touted as a ‘do no harm’ opportunity to support Australia and the United Kingdom and build long-term competitive advantages for the US and its Pacific allies,may be turning into a zero-sum game for scarce,highly advanced US[nuclear-powered submarines].”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.