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san diego [United States]March 14 (ANI): US President Joe Biden, along with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Monday that Australia will buy nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States to modernize its fleet. The agreement is aimed at countering Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The three leaders issued a joint statement following bilateral talks at the US Naval Base in San Diego, California, stressing their shared commitment to the 18-month trilateral security partnership, known by the acronym AUKUS – representing Australia, the UK and the US .
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US President Joe Biden said at the Naval Base: “Today, we announced steps to implement our first program under AUKUS and develop Australia’s conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine capability. These submarines are nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed. “Point Loma, San Diego.
Accompanied by Albanese and Sunak, Biden also emphasized that the purpose of the agreement is not just to sell submarines to Australia, but also to jointly develop new things.
Biden said, “The United Nations will sell Australia three submarines, and possibly two more if needed. The end goal is not just to sell Australia a submarine, but to jointly develop something new, which we call SSN-AUKUS .”
Speaking to the media on Air Force One ahead of the San Diego meeting, U.S. national security adviser Jack Sullivan said the partnership would develop a multi-stage process that would begin over the next few years and immediately begin training Australian sailors, engineers, Technicians and others are able to assume responsibility and management of nuclear propulsion. “A few years from now, in the 2020s, you will start to see regular rotations of U.S. and U.K. submarines deployed in Australia,” the White House quoted Sullivan as saying.
The U.S. will deliver three conventionally armed nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines to Australia during the early 2030s, “possibly increasing to five if required,” the U.S. official said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted key features of the AUKUS agreement, such as building Australia’s future while investing in skills, jobs and infrastructure.
“The AUKUS agreement represents the largest single investment in Australia’s defense capabilities in our history, strengthening Australia’s national security and stability; building an Australian-made future through record investment in skills, jobs and infrastructure,” Albanese said.
Albanese said that this is the first time in 65 years and the second time in history that the United States has shared its nuclear propulsion technology.
“We are also proud to be working with the UK on the next generation of submarines, called SSN-AUKUS. A new type of conventionally armed nuclear powered submarine, based on British designs and combining cutting-edge Australian, British and American technology. It will It is a sovereign Australian capability, built by Australians, commanded by the Royal Australian Navy and maintained by Australians in Australian shipyards, and construction will begin this decade,” Albanese said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cited growing challenges such as “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, growing assertiveness by China and destabilizing behavior by Iran and North Korea that threaten to create a dangerous, A chaotic and divided world.”
Sunak said that under the partnership, the UK would deliver “world-leading design and build the first of these new ships, creating thousands of good, well-paying jobs” and would share its knowledge and experience with Australian engineers so they could Build your own fleet of ships.
“Our partnership is significant because not only are we building these submarines together, but they’re also going to be truly interoperable,” Sunak said, with parts of the U.S. Navy. Submarine crews from all three countries will train together, patrol together, maintain their ships together, and communicate using the same terminology and the same equipment.
Sunak called it a strong partnership and said through AUKUS they would raise the bar on nuclear non-proliferation. “For the first time ever, this will mean three submarine fleets working together in the Atlantic and Pacific to keep our oceans free, open and prosperous for decades to come,” Sunak said.
In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced the establishment of AUKUS – a new security partnership aimed at promoting a free, open, secure and stable Indo-Pacific region.
According to the Japan Times, AUKUS is a plan to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines in an unprecedented three-way defense partnership aimed at countering China’s attempts to achieve naval dominance in the Pacific.
A key element of AUKUS, according to The Japan Times, is the US agreeing to export to Australia its prized nuclear-powered submarine technology, which was previously only shared with the UK when it designed its undersea fleet in the 1960s. Before announcing the British-built submarine with American components, China warned that the AUKUS could spark an arms race and accused the three countries of hindering non-proliferation efforts.
“We urge the US, Britain, and Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game, earnestly fulfill their international obligations, and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability,” said Mao Ning, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, a Beijing-based reporter.
Australia has promised to make “proportional” investment in the industrial capacity of the United States and the United Kingdom. In the next few decades, it will spend more than 100 billion US dollars to purchase submarines, build its own industrial capacity, and support the industrial capacity of the United States and the United Kingdom. Shipbuilding capabilities.
According to the Japan Times, the nuclear-powered submarine will allow Australia to maintain an underwater presence for months on end for decades to come, giving the Chinese military an advantage as it expands its sphere of influence.
China has struck a controversial security agreement with the Solomon Islands in recent months and has not ruled out using force to seize Taiwan, an autonomous democracy claimed by Beijing, effectively preventing it from projecting military power deeper into the of the Pacific region. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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