Australia has announced initial funding for the construction of a new submarine shipyard at Osborne under the AUKUS security pact, earmarking A$3.9 billion (US$2.8 billion) for the purpose.
The shipyard should enable the delivery of nuclear submarines as part of the AUKUS security agreement with the United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA).
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the sum as a “down payment” for the facility at Osborne, near the southern city of Adelaide.
“Investment in the submarine shipyard in Osborne is key to the delivery of Australian nuclear-powered submarines,” Albanese said in a statement.
According to official estimates, a long-term investment of about 30 billion Australian dollars is expected in that project.
The tripartite AUKUS agreement was announced in 2021 and represents the largest defense investment in Australia’s history. The pact is seen as aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The agreement sees the UK and US supplying Australia with nuclear-powered submarines from next decade.
This defense agreement, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, also foresees that the United Kingdom and Australia will jointly build a new class of AUKUS nuclear submarines.
The agreement also includes the transfer of technology that would allow Australia to build its own submarines in the future.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said the Osborne facility would be at the heart of that goal.
– The ongoing transformation at Osborne shows that Australia is well on its way to ensuring the sovereign ability to build our nuclear-powered submarines for decades to come – said Marles.
According to Prime Minister Albanese, the shipyard in Osborne should create almost 10,000 jobs in design and construction, and provide up to 1,000 trainee positions per year as part of training at the location itself.
In September, Australia also announced an investment of 8 billion US dollars to modernize the facilities at the shipyard in Perth, which should become a center for maintaining the future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, reports DW.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
