The United States has endorsed the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the US, following a five-month review by the Pentagon, which the ministry said identified opportunities to put the deal on the “strongest possible footing.”
US President Donald Trump’s administration said earlier this year that it was reviewing the 2021 agreement signed under his predecessor Joe Biden.
Under the deal, Australia will buy at least three nuclear-powered attack submarines from the US in the early 2030s and build its own ships in the future using US technology.
“The purpose of the review was to identify opportunities to strengthen AUKUS and ensure its long-term success, consistent with President Trump’s ‘America first’ agenda,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Friday.
“In keeping with President Trump’s directives that AUKUS move ‘full steam ahead,’ the review identified opportunities to put AUKUS on the strongest possible footing,” Parnell said in a statement.
Pentagon review identifies ‘critical deadlines’
US Congressman Joe Courtney, co-chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, said the review endorsed the $368 billion deal.
Courtney added that the report determined there were “critical deadlines” that all three countries needed to meet, and that “maintaining disciplined adherence to the schedule is of paramount importance.”
Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Friday he was pleased the US review had confirmed AUKUS was “full speed ahead”.
“We will deal constructively with the findings and recommendations on how we can improve AUKUS even further,” Conroy told reporters.
“I am confident that AUKUS is achieving every milestone we have achieved to date and this assessment confirms that.”
The government is considering the report in the run-up to crucial talks next week in Washington between Defense Secretary Richard Marles and his American counterpart Pete Hegseth.
Marles said on Thursday that Australia is “working through” the review, which has been handed to the Albanian government but not made public.
Conroy said Friday that it is up to the US to decide whether to make the document public.
“We are currently working on the review and we have said publicly over the last two years where we can improve the delivery and performance of AUKUS, we will do that.”
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