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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial |
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ARTICLE VIEW: |
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US will have access to new AUKUS nuclear submarine shipyard, Australia |
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says |
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Story by Reuters |
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Updated: |
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10:37 PM EDT, Sat September 13, 2025 |
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Source: Reuters |
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Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Sunday that the |
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United States would be able to use planned defense facilities in |
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Western Australia to help deliver submarines under the AUKUS nuclear |
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submarine deal. |
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The government on Saturday said it would spend A$12 billion ($8 |
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billion) to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard near Perth, as |
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part of a 20-year plan to transform it into the maintenance hub for its |
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AUKUS submarine fleet. |
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The AUKUS pact, agreed upon by Australia, Britain and the US in 2021, |
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aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from |
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the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific |
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region. President Donald Trump’s administration is undertaking a of |
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the pact. |
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When asked on Sunday if the US would be able to use dry docks at the |
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facility for its nuclear-powered submarines, Marles said “this is an |
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AUKUS facility and so I would expect so.” |
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“This is about being able to sustain and maintain Australia’s |
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future submarines but it is very much a facility that is being built in |
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the context of AUKUS,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
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television. “I would expect that in the future this would be |
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available to the US.” |
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The center-left Labor government made an initial investment of A$127 |
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million last year to upgrade facilities at the shipyard, which will |
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also build the new landing craft for the Australian army and the new |
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general-purpose frigates for the navy, supporting around 10,000 local |
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jobs. |
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Under AUKUS - worth hundreds of billions of dollars - Washington will |
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several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, while |
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Britain and Australia will later build a new AUKUS-class submarine. |
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The Republican and Democratic heads of a US congressional committee for |
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strategic competition with China in July stressed their strong support |
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for AUKUS, amid the review of the deal by Elbridge Colby, a top |
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Pentagon policy official and public critic of the pact. |
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Australia, which the same month signed a treaty with Britain to bolster |
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cooperation over the next 50 years on AUKUS, has maintained it is |
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confident the pact will proceed. |
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