The Australian government published a new submarine strategy March 7 that called for investing $19 billion over 30 years to support future AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines with a domestic industrial base.
“The scale, complexity and technology requirements of the program also mean the Australian Submarine Industrial Base will need to work with trusted United Kingdom and United States partners to deliver products and services across the life of the [nuclear-powered submarine] program,” the document on the government’s website said.
With these requirements, the document also included that a “significant investment” in additional training will be required to create around 20,000 jobs over the next 30 years in Australia.
The Australian government also said in its document that it is partnering with American manufacturer Huntington Ingalls Industries to launch a pilot program to work with Australian companies to incorporate them into the Virginia-class submarine supply chain.
Last week, in a joint address to Congress, President Donald Trump said he planned to set up an Office of Shipbuilding in the U.S. and “resurrect the American shipbuilding industry.” It is unclear how the shipbuilding base will affect AUKUS, the trilateral agreement among Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. wherein the U.S. plans to sell Australia three to five used and new Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s. After that, Australia plans to build its own subs in the following decade.
