Latest news with #Virginia-class
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Britain's AUKUS envoy dismisses fears over Trump review of submarine deal
The issue is crucial for Australia's $368 billion investment in AUKUS because the deal assumes the purchase of existing Virginia-class submarines from the US over the next decade before new vessels are built. Asked if the US had demanded the UK to commit its submarines to join US forces under their nuclear sharing agreement – which dates to 1958 – Lovegrove said: 'No, it hasn't.' He added that Britain under former prime minister Harold Wilson chose not to join the US in the war in Vietnam and this did not undermine the nuclear-sharing agreement. 'That is not to say that there haven't been moments in which the US has wanted to seek the support from the UK in conflicts that it finds itself in,' he said. 'But I have never seen, in my experience, or seen any evidence, in my time, of the nuclear collaboration agreements playing any part in that whatsoever.' Lovegrove was speaking to the Stop the World podcast produced by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, after addressing the think tank in Canberra on Wednesday. The podcast will be released on Friday. In a series of revealing comments about the UK's confidence in the submarine agreement, Lovegrove said there was good progress on building a new submarine base in Fremantle and this would be vital for the US. Asked whether the US could build Virginia-class submarines fast enough to be able to sell several to Australia before the AUKUS fleet is designed and built, he said 'never bet against America' in its ability to innovate. He also signalled the agenda for the second pillar of the agreement, saying it needed to focus on a few key priorities rather than ranging across too many technologies. He emphasised work on autonomous underwater vehicles that were uncrewed and used artificial intelligence. Loading The Pentagon review, which took some US officials by surprise when it was revealed on June 11, has fuelled talk that Trump will demand more money from Australia or place new conditions on the agreement within weeks. The head of the review, US Department of Defence under-secretary Elbridge Colby, has caused consternation in some quarters with an 'America first' approach that can deny help to allies. Colby has been named as the key official who sought to freeze military supplies to Ukraine last week, while Politico reported he had also argued against a UK naval deployment in Asia. When a British defence team met Colby and others in the US capital last month, according to the report, he told them they should turn back an aircraft carrier they had sent east. 'He was basically saying, 'You have no business being in the Indo-Pacific',' one unnamed official told Politico. This masthead reported that several officials expect Colby's report on AUKUS to argue that Australia should add to the $4.7 billion it has pledged to help build up US industrial capacity to manufacture more submarines. Two other Australian sources, one in the political establishment and one in defence who have both spoken to Colby, said the Pentagon believed Australia should give a public declaration or private guarantee that US-made nuclear submarines would be used in a possible conflict with China. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles played down the likely impact of the Colby review when visiting London late last month for a meeting with UK Defence Secretary John Healey. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also signalled in recent days that the US could not expect Australia to commit to any conflict automatically. Loading 'I'm a supporter of AUKUS, that's important,' Albanese said in remarks to the John Curtin Research Centre and obtained by this masthead. 'But that doesn't mean that we are subservient to any other country.' Lovegrove, a former national security adviser in the UK government, expressed great confidence the AUKUS pact would survive the Colby review and Trump's response. 'There is a huge bilateral support for AUKUS in the States,' he told the ABC's 7:30 program this week.
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Britain's AUKUS envoy dismisses fears over Trump review of submarine deal
The issue is crucial for Australia's $368 billion investment in AUKUS because the deal assumes the purchase of existing Virginia-class submarines from the US over the next decade before new vessels are built. Asked if the US had demanded the UK to commit its submarines to join US forces under their nuclear sharing agreement – which dates to 1958 – Lovegrove said: 'No, it hasn't.' He added that Britain under former prime minister Harold Wilson chose not to join the US in the war in Vietnam and this did not undermine the nuclear-sharing agreement. 'That is not to say that there haven't been moments in which the US has wanted to seek the support from the UK in conflicts that it finds itself in,' he said. 'But I have never seen, in my experience, or seen any evidence, in my time, of the nuclear collaboration agreements playing any part in that whatsoever.' Lovegrove was speaking to the Stop the World podcast produced by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, after addressing the think tank in Canberra on Wednesday. The podcast will be released on Friday. In a series of revealing comments about the UK's confidence in the submarine agreement, Lovegrove said there was good progress on building a new submarine base in Fremantle and this would be vital for the US. Asked whether the US could build Virginia-class submarines fast enough to be able to sell several to Australia before the AUKUS fleet is designed and built, he said 'never bet against America' in its ability to innovate. He also signalled the agenda for the second pillar of the agreement, saying it needed to focus on a few key priorities rather than ranging across too many technologies. He emphasised work on autonomous underwater vehicles that were uncrewed and used artificial intelligence. Loading The Pentagon review, which took some US officials by surprise when it was revealed on June 11, has fuelled talk that Trump will demand more money from Australia or place new conditions on the agreement within weeks. The head of the review, US Department of Defence under-secretary Elbridge Colby, has caused consternation in some quarters with an 'America first' approach that can deny help to allies. Colby has been named as the key official who sought to freeze military supplies to Ukraine last week, while Politico reported he had also argued against a UK naval deployment in Asia. When a British defence team met Colby and others in the US capital last month, according to the report, he told them they should turn back an aircraft carrier they had sent east. 'He was basically saying, 'You have no business being in the Indo-Pacific',' one unnamed official told Politico. This masthead reported that several officials expect Colby's report on AUKUS to argue that Australia should add to the $4.7 billion it has pledged to help build up US industrial capacity to manufacture more submarines. Two other Australian sources, one in the political establishment and one in defence who have both spoken to Colby, said the Pentagon believed Australia should give a public declaration or private guarantee that US-made nuclear submarines would be used in a possible conflict with China. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles played down the likely impact of the Colby review when visiting London late last month for a meeting with UK Defence Secretary John Healey. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also signalled in recent days that the US could not expect Australia to commit to any conflict automatically. Loading 'I'm a supporter of AUKUS, that's important,' Albanese said in remarks to the John Curtin Research Centre and obtained by this masthead. 'But that doesn't mean that we are subservient to any other country.' Lovegrove, a former national security adviser in the UK government, expressed great confidence the AUKUS pact would survive the Colby review and Trump's response. 'There is a huge bilateral support for AUKUS in the States,' he told the ABC's 7:30 program this week.
The Diplomat
3 days ago
- Business
- The Diplomat
US Naval Revival in the Indo-Pacific Ramps Up
The 'Big Beautiful Bill,' recently signed into law, has drawn headlines in the United States for its sweeping scope and political heft. While much of the public debate has focused on its immigration provisions and social welfare implications, a quieter but strategically important component of the bill has gone largely unnoticed: a multi-billion-dollar investment to revitalize the American shipbuilding and repair industrial base. The bill directs tens of billions toward revitalizing U.S. shipbuilding and repairing the industrial base — investments in new dry docks, advanced manufacturing, workforce training, and next-generation technologies. But this is just one part of a broader shift aimed at solidifying U.S. naval presence in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. is also expanding maritime cooperation with regional partners, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and India, to create a more resilient network of maintenance and repair facilities across the Indo-Pacific. Despite efforts to expand the U.S. Navy to a 381-ship battle force, the fleet has stagnated. After two decades of rising shipbuilding budgets, the Navy today operates with roughly the same number of ships as it did in 2003. Deep-rooted weaknesses in the American shipbuilding and maintenance ecosystem are at the root of this stagnation. Production shortfalls, labor shortages, and facility limitations have led to costly delays and degraded operational readiness. From 2015 to 2019, for example, three-quarters of all aircraft carrier and submarine maintenance periods were completed late, resulting in over 7,000 days of cumulative delay. The United States' naval superiority rests not only on the number of hulls in the water, but on whether ships are combat-ready when they're needed. Yet the Navy has been forced to decommission ships early and accept slower production timelines due to industrial bottlenecks. Procurement challenges, such as the Virginia-class submarine program running at only 60 percent of its planned rate, highlight the importance of a well-functioning shipbuilding base for operational effectiveness. The rise of China amplifies the risks from this vulnerability. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is now the world's largest maritime force, backed by a state-directed shipbuilding industry outpacing the United States in scale and output. China's commercial-military fusion allows shipyards like Jiangnan and Hudong-Zhonghua to subsidize naval production with profits from global commercial contracts. According to a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) research report, four top-tier Chinese shipyards produced over 39 warships and 19 million gross tons of commercial shipping in just four years — equivalent to South Korea's annual output. Given the vast distances of the Indo-Pacific, timely maintenance cannot rely solely on shipyards in the continental United States. In recent years, the U.S. has begun actively expanding its forward-deployed repair and logistics network in cooperation with regional partners. Japan has long been a focus of these efforts, with American ships having undergone maintenance on bases in Japan for years. In April 2025, the USS Miguel Keith completed a five-month overhaul at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Yokohama facility — the first time a U.S. warship underwent such a deep maintenance period in a Japanese commercial yard. This milestone follows increasing high-level coordination between U.S. and Japanese defense officials, with Tokyo signaling its willingness to expand maintenance cooperation. South Korea has also begun to play a more prominent role. In March 2025, the Lewis and Clark-class supply ship USNS Wally Schirra completed a large-scale repair at Hanwha Ocean's Geoje shipyard, the first of its kind in the country. Additionally, Indian shipbuilders have signed Master Ship Repair Agreements (MSRA), setting up the foundation for future maintenance collaboration. While in the Philippines, the U.S. is developing a facility to support the maintenance of unmanned surface vessels. For these domestic and regional initiatives to succeed, they must be guided by realistic goals and sustained planning. Reviving the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base does not mean recapturing global market share from China, a country whose dominant position is backed by aggressive state subsidies, industrial consolidation, and a tightly fused commercial-military shipbuilding sector. Attempting to mirror China's model would be both expensive and strategically misguided. Instead, targeted investment aimed at restoring sufficient industrial capacity is a more pragmatic and efficient approach. Additionally, design stability needs to be maintained to provide a more streamlined process for domestic shipbuilders. Moreover, regional maintenance partnerships must also be approached with long-term coordination and clarity to account for domestic constraints in partner countries. In Japan, for instance, labor shortages and high demand for commercial shipbuilding already constrain capacity, despite the country ranking third globally in total ship output. Expecting Japanese yards to absorb large volumes of U.S. Navy work without careful planning risks overpromising what partners can deliver. This renewed investment, paired with growing regional collaboration, marks an important step toward reestablishing maritime readiness in the Indo-Pacific. However, only through pragmatic choices about where to invest, how much industrial capacity to restore, and what to reasonably expect from partners can the U.S. establish lasting maritime advantages in the Indo-Pacific. The opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not represent the official stance of their institution.
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Energetic' Australian statecraft could secure support for AUKUS
Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson says 'energetic Australian statecraft' could secure support for AUKUS and ensure the transfer of the Virginia-class submarines.
Newsweek
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Photos Show US Submarine Loading Cruise Missiles at Frontline Pacific Base
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A United States nuclear-powered submarine was armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles while in Guam—a strategic hub in the western Pacific that can project military power against China. Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment via email. Why It Matters Guam is America's westernmost territory and is home to several U.S. military bases. The island is approximately 1,800 miles from the coast of China, making it a staging area for projecting U.S. military power—albeit within range of Chinese intermediate-range missiles. The U.S. Navy has homeported five nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines at Naval Base Guam—one newer Virginia-class and four older Los Angeles-class—since last November, a move seen as a response to China's growing naval presence in the broader western Pacific. What To Know In a set of photos released on Monday, U.S. Navy sailors are seen loading Tomahawk missiles onto the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Jefferson City on May 6 at Naval Base Guam. The submarine is assigned to the Submarine Squadron 15, based in Guam. United States Navy sailors load Tomahawk cruise missiles onto the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Jefferson City at Naval Base Guam on May 6, 2025. United States Navy sailors load Tomahawk cruise missiles onto the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Jefferson City at Naval Base Guam on May 6, 2025. Lt. James Caliva/U.S. Navy "Renowned for their unparalleled speed, endurance, stealth, and mobility, fast-attack submarines serve as the backbone of the Navy's submarine force, ensuring readiness and agility in safeguarding maritime interests around the world," the Navy said. Each Los Angeles-class submarine is equipped with 12 vertical launch tubes for firing Tomahawk missiles, according to the U.S. Navy. These missiles have a flight range of 1,000 miles and are capable of striking ground targets in "heavily defended airspace." During recent U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, over two dozen Tomahawk missiles were launched from a U.S. submarine, targeting two of the sites. These missiles were part of approximately 75 precision-guided weapons employed during the operation. It remains unclear whether the missile-loading operation was part of the Jefferson City's preparation for deployment in the western Pacific. In 2023, the submarine completed what the U.S. Navy described as a "routine five-month deployment" in the Indo-Pacific region. United States Navy sailors load Tomahawk cruise missiles onto the submarine USS Jefferson City at Naval Base Guam on May 6, 2025. United States Navy sailors load Tomahawk cruise missiles onto the submarine USS Jefferson City at Naval Base Guam on May 6, 2025. Lt. James Caliva/U.S. Navy Other U.S. submarines have previously rearmed with Tomahawk cruise missiles while in Guam, including the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Florida, which conducted an expeditionary reload in July 2024. The submarine can carry up to 154 cruise missiles. What People Are Saying U.S. Submarine Squadron 15 said in a Facebook post on Tuesday: "Jefferson City exemplifies fleet readiness—operating forward-deployed at the tip of the spear and delivering agile, undersea power in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Living up to its motto, 'When Any Exigence Calls,' the crew continues to demonstrate precision, presence, and undersea dominance where it matters most." The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command commented: "Tomahawk provides on-scene commanders with the flexibility to attack long-range fixed targets or support Special Operations Forces with a lethal, responsive, precision weapon system and as such has become the weapon of choice for the U.S. Department of Defense." What Happens Next It remains to be seen whether the U.S. will further increase the number of submarines based in Guam for forward deployment in the western Pacific.
