The United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, along with the Defense Ministers of the United Kingdom and Australia, John Healey and Richard Marles, announced this Saturday in Singapore an update to the trilateral AUKUS pact, focused on promoting the development of defense systems based on underwater drones, with delivery scheduled to begin next year.
This initiative is integrated into the so-called "Pillar Two" of AUKUS and aims, in Hegseth's words, to consolidate the use of "highly adaptable unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) designed to support submarine operations and maintain a collective advantage in the maritime domain." The measure is part of the renewal of the agreement signed in 2021 by the three countries to counter China's growing military influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
For his part, Healey expressed confidence that the announced review would provide the definitive boost for a cooperation framework that, in his opinion, had been progressing too slowly. "As far as AUKUS is concerned, for a long time we have talked too much and delivered too little," the British Defense Minister stated during his speech.
Within "Pillar One," the United States is scheduled to transfer three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, while the three nations will collaborate on the design and construction of a new generation of submarines over the coming decades. "Pillar Two" covers "the exchange of advanced technologies, such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced weaponry" among the partners.
Hegseth and Healey added that rotations of U.S. submarines are already scheduled and will begin at the end of next year at the HMAS Stirling naval base, located in Western Australia, as part of the operational deployment associated with the agreement.