London, Thanasis Gavos

A major program to build first-generation nuclear-powered submarines under the trilateral AUKUS strategic agreement was announced from a naval base in San Diego, California by the leaders of the US, UK and Australia.

The new submarines will be called SSN-AUKUS and will be built by Britain and Australia based on British submarine design, incorporating American technology, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in joint statements with President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese .

The AUKUS agreement between the three countries was signed in September 2021 to provide submarines to Canberra. The details were announced today after a year and a half of consultation.

The first British submarines are expected to be ready by the end of the next decade, with the first Australian submarines in the early 2040s.

The first step will be the training of Australian specialists who will be integrated into the US and British navies and submarine-building industries.

The agreement also provides for the sale of US Virginia-class submarines to Australia over the next decade and a permanent presence of US and British submarines at an Australian naval base from 2027.

The British prime minister described the AUKUS deal as the biggest international military deal in generations and spoke of “new relationships to meet new challenges”, a reference seen mainly as a message to Beijing.

However, President Biden has repeated many times that nuclear submarines are not nuclear weapons.

The British Prime Minister’s trip to the US coincided with his government’s presentation of the updated Consolidated Report on the UK’s defence, security and foreign policy.

The report highlights the “challenge” posed by China, confirming a shift in British emphasis to the Indo-Pacific region, although it notes that the immediate priority is the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Sunak wrote in the report’s preface that Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s aggression against Taiwan threaten to create a world “defined by danger, turmoil and division”. He predicted a “difficult and dangerous decade” for the world order.

In his statements to American networks, he described the possible supply of weapons from China to Russia for the Ukrainian front as “alarming and dangerous”, while he told the BBC that the challenge posed by Beijing must be taken seriously.

Referring to the decision to increase spending on the armed forces he commented that the world has become more “volatile” and that threats to British security have increased.

From San Diego, Mr. Sunak also stressed that the SSN-AUKUS shipbuilding program will create thousands of jobs for the British in the coming decades.