The Washington consensus seems to be that AUKUS—the newly announced alliance among the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom—is a good thing. It is not simply a matter of diplomatic showmanship in the strategic contest with China, nor is it a mere success of industrial policy, although it might be both those things. By investing in U.S. and British nuclear submarine technology, the Australians are getting much greater capability than they would have with the French conventional submarines, including the ability to launch land attack missiles as well as all the advantages of unlimited cruising time and a deep industrial base to back them up. The truth is that the French deal never made great technical or political sense—either large conventional submarines from the Japanese or nuclear ones from the United States or the United Kingdom made much more.
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