Explained | The AUKUS deal to get nuclear-powered submarines for AustraliaPremium

The leaders of the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom jointly announced that Australia will buy nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S. and use American technology to develop its own nuclear submarine capacity

The story so far: United States President Joe Biden, alongside his Australian and British counterparts Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak, unveiled on Monday, March 13, a deal to sell U.S. Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and to provide American technology for the production of such submarines in British and Australian facilities.

This will be achieved through a three-decade-long plan under the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) security partnership, announced 18 months ago in September 2021.

As per Monday’s announcement,, the three countries have charted a plan stretching till the mid-2050s for them to operate integrated and interoperable nuclear-powered submarine fleets in a phased manner. The plan is expected to cost $268 to $368 billion between now and fruition in the 2050s. This is the first time the United States is sharing its nuclear-powered submarine technology with any country— other than the U.K. in the late 1950s.

Starting this year, the Australian military and civilians will join the United States Navy and the United Kingdom Royal Navy on their domestic submarine bases for the purposes of induction and technology training and to develop the ability to work together. Between 2023 and 2026, the U.S and U.K. will increase port visits of their conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine (SSNs) to Australia to provide it more familiarity with the nuclear-powered technology before it acquires its own.

Starting 2027, American and British SSNs will establish presence at the HMAS Stirling near Perth, Western Australia, on a rotational basis. This will comply fully with Canberra’s longstanding position of no foreign bases on its territory.

According to the plan’s timeline, Australia will buy three, possibly up to five, Virginia-class SSNs from the U.S. in the 2030s. Its navy will get its first made-in-Australia “SSN AUKUS” boat, with British design and American nuclear propulsion technology in the early 2050s. The SSN-AUKUS will be the future attack submarine for both Australia and the United Kingdom— the U.K. navy will get its first domestically manufactured SSN-AUKUS in the 2040s.

Australia says it wants to advance its technological capabilities as conventional diesel-powered submarines will be less able to meet the country’s needs in the future Indo-Pacific security environment. In terms of technical and tactical aspects, nuclear-powered submarines offer superior stealth, capable of remaining completely submerged for years and having significantly lower chances of being detected by adversaries. They are faster and have longer range— the SSN AUKUS will not require refuelling throughout its lifetime of about three decades.