Canberra, Mar. 14 (BNA) Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program with the United States and Britain will cost up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) over the next three decades, the country’s single largest defense official said Tuesday. project in history.
US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday unveiled details of a plan to supply Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines, a key step to counter China’s naval buildup in the Indo-Pacific.
Albanese said the program would begin with an investment of A$6 billion ($4 billion) over the next four years to expand the country’s major submarine base and offshore shipyards, as well as train skilled workers.
“This will be a sovereign Australian capability – built by Australians led by the Royal Australian Navy and supported by Australian workers in Australian shipyards,” Albanese said in San Diego, California.
“The scale, complexity and economic importance of the investment is comparable to the establishment of the Australian motor industry in the post-war period,” Albanese added.
Australia will also provide A$3 billion to expand shipbuilding capacity in the US and Britain, with the bulk of the money going to accelerate production of US Virginia-class submarines.
The total cost of the submarine program is estimated at A$268 billion to A$368 billion by 2055, a defense official told Reuters, or roughly 0.15% of GDP annually.
The price includes the cost of building the submarines as well as associated infrastructure and training, and the program will create 20,000 jobs in Australia over three decades.
Britain will build its first boat, SSN-AUKUS, as the new class of submarines is named. The first Australian-made boat will be delivered in 2042, and one boat will be built every three years until the fleet reaches eight.
The Australian submarine will be built in the state of South Australia, where A$2 billion will be spent on infrastructure, creating 4,000 jobs, as well as another 5,500 jobs in shipyards at the peak of construction. The government said this represented twice the expected workforce for a canceled plan to build French-designed conventional submarines.
Documents and data released by Australia on Tuesday showed that the Perth naval base will be home to the new submarine fleet, upgraded at a cost of A$8 billion over a decade and creating 3,000 jobs.
US nuclear-powered submarines will visit Western Australia more frequently this year, with British submarines beginning port visits in 2026.
From 2027, the Perth base, HMAS Stirling, will host a rotating presence of British and American nuclear-powered submarines to build Australia’s experiment.
MI