In the latest U.S. defense budget known as the National Defense Authorization Act, Congressman Joe Courtney called for the expansion of the shipyards with the goal of increasing the production of Virginia-class submarines to to two or three boats a year.
America is already in full submarine production capacity, leaving Australia in a difficult position to meet its 10-submarine requirement over the next decade.
The U.S. Navy builds two nuclear submarines a year at two shipyards, in Virginia and Connecticut. Its current 30-year shipbuilding plan says, “The production of nuclear-powered ships … will be at their capacity for the next 15 years.”
It needs to be built in Australia
According to a Congressional Research Service document, the Navy testified in June last year that increasing the capacity of the submarine construction industrial base to an additional submarine a year would require “between $ 1.5 billion ($ 2.2 billion). million) and $ 2 billion more investment by ourselves plus industry, and an increase in labor ”.
Mr. Marles would not have dared to know whether U.S. officials had asked him to consider this co-investment that could help speed up delivery. However, it is understood that the US government has not yet requested this contribution from Australia and that, in fact, it might prefer that Australia invest in capacity in Australia.
“Recognizing that industrial capacity in the United States and Britain is totally focused on delivering submarines to their own navies, what’s really clear to us,” Marles said, “is that for that to work, we need to build capacity in Australia.
“We wanted to talk about ways we can break down barriers to build a more perfect defense industrial base.
“There’s really been a shared view that what we really need to do is build a project team. And what that means in terms of the defense industry is that we get to the site of this perfect industrial base.”
Biden administration Indo-Pacific Affairs coordinator Kurt Campbell declined to comment on whether this investment in the expansion of the shipyards was something the United States would like to see to help speed up submarine delivery.
Some Washington-based defense experts, including the Australian president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Charles Edel, said it was worth considering this proposal.
“Increasing the capacity to make more submarines faster is clearly in the interest of the US and Australia, so this investment makes sense to me,” Edel said. “But there are still a lot of questions to ask.”
This investment from Australia would only be worthwhile if there was skilled labor available to put these assets into operation, he said, and only if this investment really improved the period of time for which Australia could obtain new submarines.
“Shared Mission”
Heritage Foundation senior fellow defense programmer Dakota Wood also said there was some precedent for this idea of co-investment and that it should be considered.
“If the Australian government injected money to expand the shipyards or build a third submarine shipyard in the US, that would make sense,” Wood said.
“However, I don’t know what the US would think about that. There may be some reluctance from the nuclear side to share all the intelligence, even with trusted allies.”
Mr Marles said on Thursday (AEST Friday) that after his three days in the US capital he was “encouraged” by the feeling of a “shared mission” between Australia and America.
“The feeling of the experience of the last few days has been really a sense of shared mission, working together completely closely, doing everything we need to do to make this as operational as possible.”
Tension is mounting over Australia’s need to improve its submarine capacity following the Chinese Communist Party’s most assertive efforts to expand its presence in the Pacific, including security agreements with Pacific Island nations.
When asked if he would consider the co-crew and co-flag of the U.S. Los Angeles submarine class, a nuclear-powered rapid attack ship, Mr. Marles said he was open to all options.
“We have to look at all the options. We have an open mind about all the possibilities,” he said.