A bipartisan group of senators introduced a new bill aimed at streamlining defense industrial base collaboration with Australia and the U.K. for the AUKUS submarine technology sharing agreement.
Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee, and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) introduced the
AUKUS Improvement Act last week to exempt U.S. State Department-vetted entities approved as AUKUS Authorized Users from being required to obtain Third Party transfer approvals under Foreign Military Sales and also exempt Australia and the U.K. from needing congressional notification for overseas manufacturing.
Kaine and Ricketts are both Senate Foreign Relations Committee members.
Under the AUKUS agreement, the three countries are working together to help Australia build up the capability to operate, maintain and ultimately build its own nuclear-powered attack submarines. The U.S. plans to sell Australia three Virginia-class attack submarines (SSNs) in the 2030s before they expect to start building their own SSN-AUKUS boats in the 2040s, two used boats and one new construction vessel. If work on the Australian boats ends up running late, they have the option to buy up to two more U.S. SSNs.
The SSN-AUKUS submarine design will be shared between the U.K. and Australia but built separately, with the U.K. planning to deliver the first boats by the late 2030s.
Kaine’s office noted this bill’s language is based on provisions he tried to get into the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization act.
Beyond Kaine and Ricketts, other bill supporters include Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
The lead contractors to build Virginia-class submarines are General Dynamics’ [GD] Electric Boat in Connecticut and HII’s [HII] Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
This follows confirmations this month from the Defense Department that it is reviewing AUKUS to ensure it is “aligned with the President’s America First agenda,” a Pentagon spokesperson said on June 11.
During his March confirmation hearing, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby balanced support for AUKUS with concerns that U.S. submarine production rates need to fulfill American needs first.
“So if we can produce the attack submarines in sufficient number and sufficient speed, then great. But if we can’t, that becomes a very difficult problem because we don’t want our servicemen and women to be in a weaker position and more vulnerable, and, God forbid, worse because they are not in the right place in the right time,” Colby said.
“So my perspective, and what I have told the Australians and also the Brits, is, if confirmed,… I think it should be the policy of the United States Government to do everything we can to make this work,” he added.
Beyond submarines, Pillar II of AUKUS is about helping all three countries collaborate on other advanced defense technology including unmanned systems.