The shift to second-hand Virginia-class submarines exposes the deeper flaw in AUKUS: Australia is committing vast public funds to a capability designed around US strategic priorities rather than Australia’s own defence needs.
Yet another twist in Australia’s submarine fiasco has been disclosed by Defence Minister Marles. The United States has decreed it will sell us only used nuclear submarines of the Virginia class. Marles reportedly said that could mean financial savings short term, but not long run. As if he has ever revealed an instinct for efficiency in defence. No doubt Australians will experience another wave of waffle from the media, all of which misses the issue. What matters most about the AUKUS submarines has been concealed by this Minister throughout his tenure.
Despite its crippling cost Marles has never explained what the Virginia class submarine is meant to do. Why has such an obvious ministerial obligation been evaded? Because it would reveal a sell-out of Australia’s security. And a massive direct underwriting of US defence budgets by Australian taxpayers – of say half a trillion of our dollars.
The Virginia class submarine is not a general-purpose vessel such as our Collins class. It is designed for supreme acoustic invisibility for a specific purpose – to find, track and attack submarines seen as a nuclear threat to the US mainland. That is the job which the US expects Australia’s submarines to do – effectively embedded into US military command – against China’s growing capacity to annihilate continental US from under the sea, anytime.
Why this role is of utmost priority for the US requires some explanation. Nuclear armed submarines, such as China possesses, present a uniquely difficult threat to the US homeland. Unlike the readily discernible launch locations of hostile land-based missiles, or from aircraft or sea-surface vessels, the submarine’s habitat and mobility make it largely invisible and impregnable across the vast ocean approaches to the US.
The US attempts to deal with this risk using specialised attack submarines (ie the Virginia), which can locate, track and destroy China’s nuclear submarines as they move into and around Pacific waters. This is one critical part of a mosaic of US self-protection measures, the effectiveness of which is eroding as China’s submarine production expands.
So, the hefty sacrifice which Australia’s taxpayers make to acquire new submarines is not for Australia’s benefit, but for defending continental US. Australia’s submarine needs are quite specialised and different, but simply ignored by Minister Marles. Australia is heavily gifting US defence spending while ignoring its own vulnerabilities, just as the President added another $500 billion to a trillion dollar defence budget. Now that the full horror of Marles’ tenure is established a Prime Minister would act.
Recall that the nuclear submarine saga began with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s AUKUS initiative in 2021. Then the Albanese opposition was invited to preview the AUKUS proposal. A brains trust of shadow ministers – Albanese, Wong and Marles congratulated itself on comprehending and approving the agreement after one day of deliberation. Perhaps politics came first?
On taking office, Prime Minister Albanese doubled down on AUKUS. Now well into a second term of government the evidence is incontrovertible this government has forsaken independence in protecting Australia. And deceives its people on how it lets the United States controls our priorities to its own benefit, damaging our own defence capacity. The implications of such betrayal are profound.
Of course, former PM Paul Keating was on top of this Morrisonian fraud three years ago, addressing the Press Club – “ In short, a plan to spend $368 billion, for nuclear submarines to conduct operations against China in the most risky of conditions is of little military benefit to anybody, even the Americans.” But now we know why the Americans think as they do. And it’s even worse.
Dr Mike Gilligan worked for 20 years in defence policy and evaluating military proposals for development, including time in the Pentagon on military balances in Asia.