In another step in the trilateral AUKUS agreement, the USS Hawaii attack submarine arrived in Australia on Aug. 22 following submarine tender USS Emory S. Land to conduct maintenance work with Australian participants.
The Emory S. Land is expected to start several executive maintenance activities in a submarine tendered maintenance period (STMP) aboard the nuclear-powered Virginia-class attack submarine USS Hawaii while the boats are at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia in the coming weeks, the U.S. Navy said.
This STMP will be similar to a planned maintenance period usually conducted in U.S. submarine ports with support from shore-based or tender-based maintenance personnel. This period generally lasts up to three weeks and does not require dry-docking the submarine.
The maintenance work on SSN-776 is part of a years-long effort by the U.S. Navy to help grow the Royal Australian Navy’s ability to maintain these submarines in advance of establishing the Submarine Rotational Force – West (SRF-W) as early as 2027.
After SRF-W is set up, in the 2030s the U.S. plans to sell three to five used and new Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s. Australia plans to deliver the first domestically-built, nuclear-powered SSN-AUKUS in the early 2040s.
A version of this story first appeared in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing affiliate publication Defense Daily.
