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Australia to Buy U.S. Nuclear-Powered Submarines in Deal to Counter China [1]
['Damien Cave', 'Edward Wong']
Date: 2023-03-09
SYDNEY — Australia will buy up to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the United States to be delivered in the 2030s, according to people briefed on the deal, which accelerates and deepens an ambitious defense agreement aimed at reinforcing American-led military dominance of the Asia-Pacific region to counter China’s military growth.
Australia would then buy a new class of submarines with British designs and American technology in another stage of the deal. The arrangement — which would also include rotating American attack submarines through Perth, in Western Australia, by 2027 — adds new details and complexities to a 2021 security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States, known as AUKUS.
Nuclear submarines can stay underwater longer and travel farther than conventional submarines without surfacing. They are the headline items of the deal, which also includes long-term plans to cooperate on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyberwarfare and missiles.
President Biden plans to host the leaders of Australia and Britain in San Diego on Monday, when they will announce the next phase of the AUKUS partnership. What officials have described so far points to a level of technology sharing and interoperability that goes far beyond what the three countries have done previously.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/us/politics/australia-nuclear-submarines-china.html
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