President Biden is expected to outline the steps needed,including investment,to demonstrate the US commitment to the AUKUS alliance.

However,the plan will require a huge Australian investment to develop the shipbuilding and supporting industries,especially in Adelaide,to ensure the Virginia-class submarines can be replaced by the future submarines to be developed with the UK.

That submarine,to be known as the SSN AUKUS,will initially be developed and built in Britain,with the first of the locally made submarines expected to begin service in the 2040s.

The timing of the first Australian-made submarines is in line with the original AUKUS plan under the Morrison government,which said the vessels would go into service in the 2040s.

Defence Minister Richard Marles provided clues about the complex task in Washington last month when he met US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin,a retired four-star general.

In a briefing to journalists at the time,Marles described the alliance as a “three-way ecosystem” that would benefit all countries,but he warned building an AUKUS-ready nuclear workforce was “one of the real challenges that we face” and said Australia would need to do “a lot more” to achieve the goal.

The AUKUS pact is intended to help Australia secure nuclear-powered submarines as part of a wider push to counter China’s military might,but will also eventually result in the three nations co-operating in other areas,such as artificial intelligence,quantum computing and cyber warfare.

Albanese has described AUKUS as the “single biggest leap” in Australia’s defence capabilities,but concerns remain about Australia’s reliance on the US and the maze of export controls that could slow the transfer of the nuclear-propulsion or other technology.

AUKUS also comes at a critical juncture in geopolitics,with China on the rise and seeking to make economic and military advances across the Indo-Pacific.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd said Chinese President Xi Jinping had “attacked” the US by name in recent weeks in a way no paramount leader had done since the 1990s.

Rudd,who will soon take up the post of Australian ambassador to the US,told CNN the Chinese foreign minister,Qin Gang,had gone a step further by saying the US posture on Taiwan would “inevitably” lead to conflict if it continued.

“I think we’re living in dangerous times,my friend,really dangerous times,and I think it’s time for all hands to the pump,” Rudd said.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie vowed to help the government find the budget savings required to help pay for the submarines,saying AUKUS would require “a level of bipartisanship which we probably haven’t seen in a generation”.

Hastie said the Coalition would hold the government accountable for any flaws in the implementation of AUKUS but added it was “really important that we don’t make these submarines a political football” because the task would continue across multiple generations.

“And it’s important that we make clear that we’re going to work with the government bipartisanly in making sure that we can deliver those submarines,” he said.

Hastie said the opposition was especially supportive of several details that have leaked out ahead of the official announcement,including the purchase of up to five Virginia-class submarines from the US,the development of an industrial base in South Australia and a greater presence of the US Navy in Australia.

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 newsletterhere.