Pentagon says AUKUS submarine deal is 'full steam ahead'

A senior Pentagon official has said the AUKUS nuclear submarine programme is moving "full steam ahead" after a review of the deal. Elbridge Colby, the US under secretary of war, said the department was "very pleased" with progress and described the arrangement as an historic undertaking for both countries, especially Australia. His comments came during an Asia-Pacific press briefing on Thursday.

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Colby said the review had produced "a roadmap for the success of the AUKUS program". He added that the United States had "no better ally" than Australia and said the two countries shared a "deep alignment of thinking" on collective defence and deterrence by denial in the region. The first Virginia-class submarine is slated to be sold to Australia in 2032, according to the programme timeline cited in the report.

The remarks are notable because Colby had previously been seen as sceptical about AUKUS. He was the author of the Trump administration's review of the agreement, which would see the United States sell three in-service Virginia-class submarines to Australia before Australia develops its own AUKUS-class submarines. The report said the original draft of the review was understood to have been critical of the deal's prospects, before being rewritten to align more closely with the president's position.

The programme matters because it sits at the centre of long-term defence planning between Washington and Canberra. It is intended to strengthen undersea capability in the Indo-Pacific, where both governments have framed deterrence as a key strategic objective. The deal also carries industrial implications for US shipbuilding, which remains under pressure to increase production rates of Virginia-class submarines.

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Colby was asked about those production rates during the briefing, as well as the possible presence of nuclear-armed submarines at Australian ports. The report said US boat-building remains below the level needed to meet domestic requirements alone, with current output at about 1.1 to 1.2 Virginia-class submarines a year. It said that rate would need to rise to two boats a year for US needs alone, and to 2.33 boats a year to meet wider commitments.

What remains unclear is how quickly the programme can meet those targets and how the review's conclusions will affect delivery schedules. The report did not provide new details on any change to the submarine sale timetable beyond the 2032 target for the first Virginia-class boat. The next developments to watch are whether the United States can lift production and whether Australia can keep pace with the commitments needed for the agreement to proceed as planned.

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