Australia and the UK will sign a 50-year treaty to cement the Aukus submarine pact, even as the major partner in the Aukus agreement, the US, wavers on the deal.
The new treaty will be announced by foreign minister Penny Wong and defence minister Richard Marles — alongside British foreign and defence secretaries David Lammy and John Healey — in the wake of the annual Aukmin talks in Sydney today.
The US is not a party to the new treaty, which will be signed on Saturday.
While negotiations over the Australia-UK defence treaty were flagged before US President Donald Trump took power, the document’s inking re-affirms UK and Australia ties in the face of American tariffs and the Pentagon’s yet-to-be-completed Aukus review.
While the details of the treaty have not yet been announced, it is expected to cover a wide breadth of cooperation between the UK and Australia in developing the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine — the first of which will be built in the UK, before manufacturing begins in Adelaide.
“The UK-Australia relationship is like no other, and in our increasingly volatile and dangerous world, our anchoring friendship has real impact in the protection of global peace and prosperity,” the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said.
The bilateral treaty will facilitate greater economic co-operation between the two nations by improving both countries’ industrial capacity.
As part of the existing defence agreement, Australia will pay about $4.6bn to support British industry to design and produce nuclear reactors to power the future Aukus-class submarines.
In a joint statement, Marles and Wong said the Australia-UK ministerial talks were critical to the nations’ shared interests.
“We take the world as it is – but together, we are working to shape it for the better,” Wong said.
Under the $368bn Aukus program, Australia is scheduled to buy at least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US from the early 2030s.
The new Aukus-class nuclear submarines will be built first in the UK: Australia’s first Aukus boat, to be built in Adelaide, is expected to be in the water in the early 2040s.
But the planned sale of US-built boats has been thrown into doubt by the Trump administration launching a review into the deal to examine whether it aligns with his “America first” agenda.
The review is being headed by the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy, Elbridge Colby, who has previously declared himself “sceptical” about the deal, fearing it could leave US sailors exposed and under-resourced.
The Aukus agreement mandates that before any submarine can be sold to Australia, the US commander-in-chief – the president of the day – must certify that America relinquishing a submarine will not diminish the US navy’s undersea capability.
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The US’s submarine fleet numbers are a quarter below their target and the country is producing boats at half the rate it needs to service its own needs, US government figures show.
Defence analysts believe the US is likely to re-commit to Aukus, but have speculated the review could demand further financial contributions – or political commitments such as avowed support for the US in a conflict with China over Taiwan – from Australia in exchange for the sale of nuclear submarines and transfer of nuclear technology.
The UK’s carrier strike group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales, arrived in Darwin on Wednesday during Talisman Sabre multi-nation military exercises hosted by Australia.
It’s the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997.
The international task group includes five core ships, 24 jets and 17 helicopters, centred on the flagship aircraft carrier. Marles and Wong will on Sunday join their UK counterparts in Darwin to observe the group in action.
UK High Commissioner to Australia, Sarah MacIntosh, said the strike group’s arrival was a demonstration of commitment to the region and the strong relationship with Canberra.
“This is an anchor relationship in a contested world,” she said.
