Just as the year’s largest international defence gathering, DSEI 21 in London, was drawing to an end the bombshell announcement on 16 September of the formation of AUKUS, a pact between Australia, the UK and the United States to co-operate on creating a new nuclear submarine capability for Australia caught everyone by surprise. There was a widely shared initial element of disbelief that such a significant development in Asia-Pacific security had been kept a total secret up until that date.
This massive and unexpected strategic change in direction aimed at strengthening the Western response to the expanding Chinese defence threat in the region, strengthened the existing Five Eyes co-operation on intelligence and strategic security. To this has been added even closer joint work between the AUKUS partners on cyber, ar tificial intelligence and quantum computing – all key developing technologies.
The announcement also brought with it a correspondingly huge impact on the industrial backdrop to the SEA 1000 program, bringing to a sudden end the existing plans for the replacement of the RAN’s Collins Class submarines by a new diesel-electric powered design, led by Naval Group, based on France’s Barracuda. While the shock-wave resulted in an instant, and understandable, outburst of angst from Paris, the news was welcomed in London and UK Prime Minister speaking in Parliament expressed his wholehearted support for the new pact.
Support also came from the opposition Labour leader in an unusual demonstration of cross-party solidarity. The agreement was seen by the UK government as a highly important pointer to how serious it was in its re-focus on the Asia-Pacific where it is anxious to increase trade and influence through “soft power” as well as committing military capacity to joint measures by regional players to stand up to China’s onward naval expansion and claims over disputed islands and waters in the South China Sea.
This is an excerpt from APDR. To read the full story, click here.
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