Australia said on Friday it would pump an additional US$3.2 billion into building the country’s nuclear-powered submarines, part of a controversial defence pact with the United States and Britain.
Under the 2021 Aukus deal, Australia’s most expensive defence project, the country will receive three nuclear-powered submarines from the United States. Australia and Britain will then build a new class of submarine in the 2040s.
But the deal has faced scrutiny over whether slow submarine production rates in the United States and Britain will leave Australia without the vessels it needs.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the additional investment of A$4.6 billion (US$3.2 billion) at a shipyard in Osborne in South Australia “demonstrates that Aukus is on track and happening now”.
“This investment is another important step in building the sovereign capability Australia will need to build, operate, maintain and sustain our future submarine fleet,” he said.
The money will go to new infrastructure and the training of workers. The planned submarine construction yard will be 10 times the size of the current shipyard, which is already building surface ships for the navy, according to Peter Malinauskas, the premier of South Australia.