Australia to buy only second-hand US submarines under AUKUS overhaul

Defence Minister Richard Marles has announced Australia will buy only second-hand nuclear-powered US submarines under a shake-up of the AUKUS agreement.

The Royal Australian Navy was slated to acquire at least one new Virginia-class submarine and two used ones under the three-nation 2021 defence pact.

But yesterday Australia, the United States and Britain announced Australia would be buying only second-hand vessels, and no new ones.

The move came as Marles and his US and UK counterparts met during the Shangri-La Dialogue, a defence summit held in Singapore.

Marles said the decision would save Australian taxpayers “significant” amounts of money and make the move towards a nuclear submarine fleet far simpler in what was a “very complicated endeavour”.

Under the original AUKUS deal, Australia faced deploying four types of nuclear-propelled (but not nuclear-armed) vessels, he said.

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“We had the prospect … of almost having four classes of submarines operating at the same time – the last of the Collins Class, two in-service Virginias, a brand new Virginia, and a brand new SSN-AUKUS – that gets pretty complicated,” he said.

“What we will have here is a simpler pathway. The Virginias we are acquiring will all be of the same type and I can’t overstate the significance of that.

Marles says the change would mean less money being forked out by Australian taxpayers, but it would not make a significant change to the country’s biggest defence project, expected to cost $368 billion.

“It doesn’t fundamentally change that equation, but it helps. It definitely helps.” 

AUKUS was signed five years ago by the leaders of Australia, the US and UK in a move aimed at deterring China’s assertiveness in the Pacific.