How much is the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal worth?

Key points
  • The biggest ace in Australia’s defense arsenal is ready to be unveiled.
  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to lay out the terms of a nuclear submarine deal with the US and UK.
  • Defense Secretary Richard Marles said it would be one of Australia’s greatest projects.
For four years, Australia will host a “rotating deployment” of U.S. and British submarines to Perth as part of one of the most ambitious defense projects in the country’s history, in response to an intensifying rivalry with Beijing over submarine weapons in the Indo-Pacific.
In twenty years, the first locally made boat will be produced in Australia.
The program is expected to cost Australian taxpayers between $268 billion and $368 billion, according to a senior government source. This is a figure that includes an estimate of the construction and maintenance of boats and all associated costs, including investment in US and UK capacity.

From the early 2040s, up to eight new Australian AUKUS-class submarines with conventional weapons but with a nuclear power plant will roll off the assembly line. They will be equipped with an American vertical launch system. One is expected to be produced every three years.

nuclear submarine

Submarines are designed to contain threats in the region. Source: AARP / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

The Australian Government will make every effort to explain how nuclear technology will be protected so that it does not violate our nuclear non-proliferation agreements. It also commits to storing the spent fuel waste that eventually originated in the Australian defense site, which will be selected this year.

In the meantime, the Collins-class diesel submarines will continue to operate, and Australia will send more submariners to the United States. Some of them are already being trained, but at least 1,000 people will need to be recruited to complete the high-level training required to operate submarines.

After days of feverish speculation about the nature of this deal, details have been declassified as part of today’s major tripartite statement by US, UK and Australian leaders.

US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be side by side amidst nuclear submarines and sailors in a very public and revealing joint display of military power at the San Diego Naval Base to send a message sent directly to Beijing about the upcoming security situation.
The SSN-AUKUS is a submarine that will bring together technology from all three countries, what one publication called “franken-sub” will have a next-generation British design as well as key technologies from the US.

The first step would be to send more American and British nuclear submarines to replace them in Australia, and to bring in a workforce to train how to use the boats domestically. This increase in activity will begin next year, and by 2027 Perth will host a “rotational presence” of British Astute-class submariners and US Virginia-class submariners. The U.S. already has rotations of Marines that are increasingly passing through the Northern Territory.

Australia will then wait for Congressional approval before purchasing three US Virginia-class submarines, and the state of the Collins-class fleet will determine whether two more are purchased.
Although some early reports suggested they would be second hand, it is not clear if this is the case.
The US is also behind schedule in its submarine building program.
After that, the UK will begin to increase its capacity to build this new AUKUS-class boat, which will roll off the assembly line for the Royal Navy in the late 2030s.
Australia will receive its first Australian-made nuclear submarine in about 20 years.
While Australia is politically focused on the submarine deal, it has barely made headlines in the United States in recent days as reports have focused on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the government’s move to ensure savers can get their money back.

Up to $6 billion worth of work will be carried out on Collins-class submarines to extend the life of the fleet until Australian-made AUKUS-class boats are produced in the 2040s.