Strategic Choice: Australia’s Nuclear-Powered Submarines

In September 2021, Australia scuttled a deal with a French shipbuilder to buy 12 diesel-electric attack submarines. Instead, Australia decided to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered ones with technical assistance from the United Kingdom and the United States, as part of their new and broader AUKUS security partnership. Although the future submarines, once built, may not dramatically alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, they will have a meaningful impact on Australia’s position in the region. They will surely change how other countries, most notably China, see it. Unsurprisingly, Beijing was unhappy with the decision and quickly denounced Australia for “intensifying an arms race”—an ironic accusation considering China’s far more expansive naval buildup. Read Full Article »