No 'plan B' for submarines if AUKUS fails, says defence minister

Concerns are growing about the AUKUS deal to deliver Australian nuclear submarine capability. (US Navy) Defence Minister Richard Marles has told the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference in Perth that AUKUS was an "enormous task", but Australia had to "stick to the plan". He said "chopping and changing" again would mean effectively giving up on the plan to develop a new fleet of long-range submarines. That would leave Australia in an "unthinkable" position, he said. Link copiedShareShare articleThe defence minister has brushed off calls for a "plan B" in case AUKUS fails, declaring it would be a step towards "giving up" on acquiring any new submarines at all. Richard Marles has been grilled about progress on the hugely ambitious nuclear submarine plan while speaking at the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference and Exhibition in Perth. AUKUS is Australia's largest-ever defence project, set to cost up to $368 billion over three decades. The plan would see US and UK nuclear-powered submarines begin rotating through Australia from 2027, the sale of US Virginia-class boats to Australia in the 2030s, and home-built AUKUS-class submarines entering service in the 2040s. Some analysts and defence industry figures say they are increasingly worried Australia could be left without any submarines in the future as the government grapples with its plan to extend the life of the aging Collins-class fleet while trying to maintain momentum on AUKUS. Yesterday, the former Australian ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, warned he was "nervous" about the planned delivery of Virginia-class submarines to Australia. Australia's Chief of Navy says China stirred "anger" in New Zealand when it sent a powerful naval flotilla into the Tasman Sea last year, encouraging political support on both sides of the ditch for increased defence spending. The Pentagon has recently warned several European allies, including the UK, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, to expect delayed missile shipments after US stockpiles were depleted during the war in Iran. Separately, Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo told parliament in March that the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets, ordered from the US in 2019 and originally due in 2023, was expected to arrive in September — nearly three years behind schedule. Mr Marles told the conference that AUKUS was an "enormous task", but Australia had to "stick to the plan" on AUKUS, saying "chopping and changing" once again would mean effectively giving up on the plan to develop a new fleet of long-range submarines. "There have been propositions to build our future submarines in Japan, to do it in France … AUKUS is kind of plan C," he said. The chief of the Australian Navy, Mark Hammond, said yesterday that critics should not "politicise" AUKUS while urging Australians to have more confidence in their ability to deliver on the project. Mr Marles said while it was "completely fair" to grill the government over the progress on the expensive program, the government's overwhelming focus was on making sure AUKUS succeeded. "It's much more important to resolve problems as they come up than focusing on Plan D or beyond," Mr Marles said. "Because at some point you're just conceding … that you're just not going to do it." He said if that happened, then Australia would be left in an "unthinkable" position, without a replacement for the Collins-class or a new fleet of submarines. Richard Marles says trading ties are not enough to insulate Australia from conflict. (ABC News: Matt Roberts) The defence minister also fielded questions over China, which Mr Marles had repeatedly called the largest source of strategic anxiety for Australia. China remains by far Australia's largest trading partner, and Mr Marles said the commercial relationship was a "good thing for the security interaction relationship between the two countries". But he also warned that trading ties could not insulate Australia — or the world — from the risk of conflict. "That's kind of the big lesson from Ukraine. I mean Ukraine and Russia were very big trading partners, and yet it played out in the way it did. "There would have been a time 10 or 15 years ago, perhaps, when people thought trade alone could keep us safe — I think we're not in that world now." Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop StoriesBetting on war is not an option in Australia. Prediction markets could change thatTopic:Gambling

No 'plan B' for submarines if AUKUS fails, says defence minister

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