Pentagon Review Sees Opportunities to Strengthen AUKUS Submarine Deal

(Patria) - The Pentagon has completed a review of the AUKUS project to supply Australia with nuclear submarines and has found areas to place the agreement on the "strongest possible footing," a US official said, Reuters reported.

The administration of President Donald Trump announced in June that it had launched a formal review of the AUKUS defense agreement, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, which also includes the United Kingdom, and a US official said the outcome was expected to be considered next week at a meeting of US and Australian defense and foreign ministers in Washington.

Washington is also expected to host a trilateral ministerial meeting later, which will also include the UK.

"In line with President Trump's guidance that AUKUS should move 'full steam ahead,' the review has identified opportunities to place AUKUS on the strongest possible footing," said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said earlier on Thursday that Australia had received the US review of the AUKUS project and was "working on it".

A British official said his country had also received the review and welcomed its completion.

The review had raised concerns in Canberra about what will be Australia's largest defense commitment ever, but concerns were eased when Trump signaled his support for the program at a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House in October.

The AUKUS plan, announced in 2023 under the previous Joe Biden administration, envisages the US selling Australia several Virginia-class nuclear submarines, while the UK and Australia will later build a new AUKUS-class submarine using US technology.

The review was led by Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who said last year that submarines are a rare commodity and that the US industry cannot produce enough to meet US demand.

Australia has committed to spending $240 billion over three decades on the program, which includes billions of dollars in investment in a US submarine manufacturing base.

A US official said the meeting of Australian defense and foreign ministers with US Secretaries of Defense and State is expected to take place on Monday, while a subsequent meeting of senior defense officials from both countries, along with British Defense Minister John Healey, is expected to be held in Washington on Wednesday.

The United Kingdom and Australia have not yet confirmed these meetings.