Australia to contribute $3bn for construction of AUKUS submarines
Al Jazeera
Defence Minister Richard Marles says allies working ‘at pace’ to ensure the security deal becomes a reality.
Australia is set to provide 4.6 billion Australian dollars ($3bn) to British industry to help support the construction of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS deal with the United Kingdom and the United States and ensure its new vessels arrive on time.
Senior officials from the UK and Australia, as well as the US ambassador to Australia, visited the naval shipyard where the submarines will be built in the South Australian city of Adelaide on Friday.
“The three governments involved here are working at pace to make this happen,” Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters at the Osborne shipyard where he was accompanied by his British counterpart Grant Shapps, as well as the foreign ministers of the two countries.
“This is going to happen and we need it to happen.”
Shapps said the submarine programme was expensive, but necessary.
