Australia ‘snubbed’ by US amid concerns over AUKUS submarine capacity

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]The first cracks have officially appeared in the August deal despite billions of Australian taxpayer dollars already being handed over to the US government. We will now not get a third Virginia class submarine. It'll be second hand just like the first two in a batch of three. Joining us live this morning is our US analyst Michael Ware.

[00:00:21]So Michael, good to see you. We are paying the price now for a slow American rollout.

[00:00:27]>> Well, that's right. Right from from the very inception of the August deal and then coming into the Trump administration there have been war planners here in the United States who don't believe or aren't confident enough that America's own ability to manufacture Virginia class nuclear powered and armed submarines can keep up with America's own demand. Let alone a demand or you know, a requirement for Australia.

[00:00:58]So in a sense we're being sold as you say two years subs not not we're now buying three years subs not two and we're also augmenting in with the Brits to develop the SSN August nuclear powered submarine which is being developed by the Brits to replace their existing astute class sub. So look this is about a capability gap. This is about the 2030s because you know, we're trying to extend the life of our old diesel class Collins submarines diesel Collins class submarines beyond their expect life expectancy into the 2040s. In the meantime, we are building HMAS Stirling so that the Americans and Brits can be constantly rotating nuclear powered submarines through Australia and the Indo-Pacific.

[00:01:58]In the meantime, we're going to get the use subs and then a new one from America.

[00:02:04]And then, long-term, under the umbrella of AUKUS, we've joined with the Brits to get their next-generation nuclear-powered submarine, which is the AUKUS SSN AUKUS.

[00:02:19]One other thing is that behind the scenes, powerful defense planners like Elbridge Colby have been resistant to AUKUS because of the manufacturing logjam they see here in the States.

[00:02:33]>> [sighs] >> Perhaps, [clears throat] this could be perceived as a little bit of a snub from the Trump administration and flicking us to their special relationship with the Brits while sort of weighing up the value of our special relationship with the Americans and the ANZUS alliance.

[00:02:54]>> Yeah, look Pete Hegseth and and Richard Marles over the weekend, they tried to put a positive spin on things saying, "Ah, you know, the second-hand subs still good, still great." But, behind all of that, do you think this is the start of more trouble ahead when it comes to AUKUS?

[00:03:11]>> Well, definitely. AUKUS is a monumental project with millions of moving parts.

[00:03:20]You know, building subs is not easy.

[00:03:23]Uh whether they're brand new designs or whether you're building, say, new Virginia-class.

[00:03:28]So, a lot is bound to go wrong over the decades of the lifetime of this deal.

[00:03:35]Now, I don't see this as a as a knockout blow to the nature of our relationship with the Americans or to the AUKUS agreement, but it's certainly signaling that perhaps this administration isn't, I don't know, venerating or seeing the value of our AUKUS deal as much as the previous administration. So, look it it keeps us in a precarious place, but developing unmanned um underwater vehicles, these you know, submarine drones, that's that's of equal validity. There's a thought that one day battleships and subs won't be needed cuz it'll be all undersea drones doing all the attacking and protecting those internet cables is absolutely vital.

[00:04:23]We've seen the Iranians threaten them in the Strait of Hormuz. We've seen the Russians threatening them uh in the North Sea. So, now Britain and Norway are hunting Russian subs that are hunting the the undersea cables. So, that is a significant achievement on its own.

[00:04:41]But, what it says about the >> [sighs] >> the pulse of AUKUS is still a mystery.

[00:04:47]>> Yeah. All right. Uh the assistant foreign minister Matt, this is where he's coming out of the program shortly.

[00:04:52]Be interesting to see if he's got any more insight on that. Well, good to see you, Michael. Thank you.