3 days ago
Australia and UK to sign 50-year defense agreement
Australia and the UK are pledging a half-century alliance, shifting the two nations closer together while the US wavers in its support for a crucial nuclear submarine program. A 50-year treaty to underpin the three-nation security pact will be signed after Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles meet their counterparts for talks in Sydney .
The AUKUS security partnership involves the US, UK and Australia, but the fresh treaty is only between London and Canberra. In opening remarks with UK leaders, Marles said the two nations' relationship might be Australia's most important partnership.
'We rely on each other in so many ways and obviously, combined, we are part of a system that gives us tremendous intelligence capability and military capability,' he said. While negotiations over the defense agreement were flagged before US President Donald Trump took power, the document's inking shows the UK and Australia are strengthening ties in the face of American tariffs and the Pentagon's yet-to-be-completed AUKUS review.
But the planned sale of US-built boats has been up in the air since the Trump administration launched a review of the deal to examine whether it aligns with his 'America first' agenda. Defence analysts believe a likely outcome of the US review will be a request for more money from Australia to support its submarine industrial base.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Alex Bristow said holding ministerial meetings every six months, rather than the traditional annual timeline, highlighted strengthened ties between the two nations. 'The tempo of it increasing, I think, is a signal that Britain is moving into an elite category,' he said.
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, centered on the flagship aircraft carrier.
