Australia will spend A$3.9bn to build a new shipyard for AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced, marking a major step in the trilateral defence pact with the U.S. and Britain.
Speaking on Sunday (14 February), Albanese said the funding would go towards developing the facility at Osborne in South Australia, a key site for constructing and maintaining the future submarine fleet under the security agreement unveiled in 2021. Announced in 2021, AUKUS is Australia’s largest-ever defence investment.
Under the agreement, U.S.-commanded Virginia-class submarines will be based in Australia from 2027, several will be sold to Canberra from around 2030, and a new class of nuclear-powered submarines will be jointly built by Britain and Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the A$3.9 billion as a down payment to deliver the new shipyard in Osborne, a suburb of Adelaide in South Australia.
"Investing in the submarine construction yard at Osborne is critical to delivering Australia's conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines," Albanese said in a statement.
Official projections put the total cost of the build at A$30bn over the coming decades, he said.
Osborne is where Australia's ASC and Britain's BAE Systems will jointly build Australia's fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, the core component of the AUKUS pact.
Until that work begins later this decade, the shipyard is where much of the maintenance on the country's existing Collins-class submarine fleet is carried out.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said the down payment would be spent on building the enabling infrastructure for the shipyard.
"This is just the beginning," Malinauskas said in a statement.
In December, a Pentagon review of the AUKUS project found areas of opportunity to put the deal on the "strongest possible footing," including ensuring that Australia is moving fast enough to build its nuclear submarine capacity.
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