
Australia on Wednesday announced the start of a life extension program for the Collins-class submarine that curtails previously planned upgrades while it awaits U.S. and domestically-made nuclear-powered attack submarines in the next decades. Australia aims to ultimately replace its six Collins-class submarines with nuclear-powered SSN-AUKUS design vessels as a result of the trilateral AUKUS agreement with the U.S. and U.K. The first SSN-AUKUS, largely built domestically, is planned to be delivered in the early 2040s, but the U.S. will sell…