Lagatar24 Desk
A trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have been forged to strengthen military capabilities in the Pacific, allowing them to share advanced defence technologies and giving Australian forces nuclear submarine technology. The move, announced on Wednesday, extends Washington’s drive for military cooperation that has angered China.
To begin the “Aukus” security partnership, naval officials and technical specialists from the three countries will work together over the next 18 months to give Australia the nuclear technology that will allow it to deploy submarines “to improve deterrence across the Indo-Pacific”, said a senior official from US President Joe Biden’s administration.
The agreement is reported to cover key areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, underwater, and long range strike capabilities. It also reported to include a nuclear component, possibly limited to the United States and the United Kingdom, on nuclear defence infrastructure.
The new alliance, with Australia expected to use technology and defence expertise provided by Washington and London may upset Paris. In 2017 Canberra picked French giant Naval Group for Australia’s largest-ever defence contract to design and build “regionally superior” 12 conventional submarines.
Cementing defence ties with the western countries could put Australia in a stronger position in the wider Asia-Pacific region, where the US is leading a loose alliance of India, Japan and Australia – known as Quad – to counter China’s growing military and economic influence.
The agreement has been characterized as a successor to the existing ANZUS pact between Australia, New Zealand and the United States, but with New Zealand “sidelined” due to its ban on nuclear energy, but no official statement has been made on this.
