‘AUKUS can lift all boats’: US politicians rally behind pact in letter to Biden
A bipartisan group of United States politicians has written to President Joe Biden to strongly defend the AUKUS pact and insist American shipyards are up to the task of providing Australia with a stopgap supply of nuclear-powered submarines before the retirement of the ageing Collins-class fleet.
The nine members of the House of Representatives – both Democrat and Republican – were responding to a letter to Biden last month from two senior US senators warning the AUKUS pact risked pushing America’s industrial base to “breaking point”.
Nine US politicians insist it is possible to supply Australia with Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.
Specifically, the senators explicitly warned against any plan to sell or transfer Virginia-class submarines to Australia before the US Navy meets its current requirements.
In their counter-letter to Biden, sent on Tuesday, the House members hail AUKUS as “a multi-decade and multi-generational effort – one that is worth embarking on for the security of our nation and that of our allies in the Indo-Pacific”.
“Far from a zero-sum game, the potential for the United States to provide or build new submarines under AUKUS, should that be the recommendation of the trilateral consultation, could very well be a ‘rising tide that lifts all boats’,” they write.
“As strong supporters of our domestic submarine industrial base and members who understand the unmatched value of our undersea platforms, we are committed to meeting our domestic undersea requirements in the near and long-term, as well as providing our closest ally with an undersea capability to better posture itself in the region.”
The letter was written by members of the “AUKUS caucus”, spearheaded by Democratic congressman Joe Courtney and Republican Mike Gallagher, both longstanding champions of the US-Australia alliance.
Courtney told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that, rather than a drain on US resources, AUKUS was “a force multiplier in my book”.
“For folks who say, ‘Oh, you know, the industrial base is backed up’. Says who?” Courtney said. “If you have a plan and if you have the resources, history tells us this capacity is capable of increasing.”
The House members note America’s submarine manufacturing industry has been strained by the COVID-19 pandemic but argue it could expand to meet both the US and Australia’s needs.
“While it is essential to maintain a minimum of two submarines a year for the United States to meet our national security requirements, we are supportive of expanding the industrial base to meet AUKUS expectations,” they write.
“We particularly believe that an expansion of our industrial base beyond two submarines would support the early provisioning of existing Virginia class submarines to be made available concurrent with the retirement of the Collins class attack submarines.”
How to plug a looming capability gap between the retirement of Australia’s current Collins-class submarines in the 2030s and the arrival of locally made nuclear-powered submarines is a key issue being considered by the government’s nuclear-powered submarine review, which will report in March.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has urged the Albanese government to buy two Virginia-class submarines off-the-shelf from Connecticut as an interim solution, but leading US political and military figures have warned American shipyards are already running at full capacity.
In their letter to Biden, the House members say AUKUS should be viewed as a “unique opportunity to leverage the support and resources possible under AUKUS to grow our industrial base to support both US and Australian submarine construction, recognising that the full fruition of AUKUS over many decades will result in Australia’s ability to domestically produce nuclear-powered submarines”.
Acknowledging the difficulty of the task ahead, they note making AUKUS a reality will “likely require many statutory, regulatory and policy changes that require bipartisan Congressional support and approval – and the sooner that these discussions can begin, the better”.
Democratic Senator and Armed Services Committee chairman Jack Reed, who co-authored the original letter to Biden warning about the progress of AUKUS, said on Twitter: “I’m proud to support AUKUS, the United States’ historic military agreement with the UK and Australia.
“This powerful partnership is central to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific, dramatically improving the capabilities of our allies, and increasing our engagement in the region.
“Importantly, AUKUS also lays the foundation for the most significant integration of our undersea and other military capabilities ever achieved.”
In his leaked December 21 letter to Biden, written with Republican colleague John Inhofe, Reed said: “We are concerned that what was initially touted as a ‘do no harm’ opportunity to support Australia and the United Kingdom and build long-term competitive advantages for the US and its Pacific allies, may be turning into a zero-sum game for scarce, highly advanced US [nuclear-powered submarines].”
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