WASHINGTON (AP) – Australia buys U.S.-made nuclear attack submarines to modernize its fleet, European officials and people familiar with the matter said amid growing concerns over China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. said on Thursday.
The purchase deal for the Virginia-class submarines was announced Monday at a meeting between President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego on an 18-month-old nuclear partnership known by the acronym AUKUS. To be announced. of. People spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of the announcement.
The AUKUS contract, announced in 2021, paved the way for Australia to gain access to nuclear submarines. Nuclear submarines are stealthy and more powerful than conventional powered ships.
“We all recognize the need to ensure long-term peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Biden said in September 2021, when the partnership was announced. “We need to be able to address both the current strategic environment in the region and how it may evolve.”
The secretly brokered deal included the Australian government’s cancellation of a $66 billion contract for a French-built fleet of conventional submarines, which sparked a diplomatic row within the Western alliance that took months to mend.
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The European official said France had been briefed on the terms of the purchase agreement. Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, the White House said, adding that they “discussed the cooperation between the United States and France in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The submarines, which cost $3 billion each, are built at shipbuilding plants in Virginia and Connecticut. Under the terms of the agreement, subs would eventually also be built in the U.K. and in Australia with U.S. technology and support, the person familiar with the matter said. The initial plans called for all of the subs to be constructed in Adelaide, Australia. The United States will also increase port visits to Australia to familiarize Australia with nuclear power technology.
The White House declined to comment on the submarine purchase ahead of a meeting scheduled for Monday.
