Australia to buy three second-hand US submarines under AUKUS shift
Australia will buy three second-hand Virginia-class submarines from the United States after a change to the AUKUS submarine plan, Defence Minister Richard Marles has said. The announcement was made at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where the three AUKUS partners said they would streamline the arrangement. Under the revised plan, Australia will no longer buy any new Virginia-class submarine.Mr Marles said the change would bring "significant" savings for Australia, although he said it would not fundamentally alter the overall cost of the programme. He said the earlier plan had raised the prospect of several submarine classes operating at the... [Continue Reading]
360LiveNews | 31 May 2026 05:59 LONDON
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Australia rejects backup plan as AUKUS submarine concerns grow
Australia's defence minister has rejected calls for a backup plan if the AUKUS submarine programme fails, saying the country must stay the course on what he described as an enormous task. Richard Marles made the remarks at the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference and Exhibition in Perth, where he was questioned about the pace and risks of the long-running plan. He said changing course again would amount to giving up on the goal of acquiring a new fleet of long-range submarines.Marles said Australia had no "plan B" and that "chopping and changing" would leave the country in an unthinkable... [Continue Reading]
360LiveNews | 27 May 2026 08:30 LONDON
