![\"Astute-class](\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/assets\/news_crops\/130209\/eight_col_000_8V8TW.jpg?1631742472\")
<\/p>\nAn Astute-class British Navy nuclear submarine (file). The new defence partnership will initially focus on a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian Navy\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0AFP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The partnership, labelled Aukus, aims to “defend our shared interests in the Indo-Pacific”, the leaders of the three nations said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n Along with technology, industrial bases and supply chains will also be shared.<\/p>\n The defence pact could see Australia scrap a deal to build French-designed submarines, Australian media report.<\/p>\n France won a $A50 billion contract to build 12 submarines for the Australian Navy in 2016. The deal was Australia’s largest-ever defence contract.<\/p>\n However, the construction of submarines has been hit with delays largely because of Canberra’s requirement that many components be sourced locally.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison issued a joint statement on the launch of the new security partnership.<\/p>\n “As the first initiative under Aukus… we commit to a shared ambition to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy,” the statement said.<\/p>\n “This capability will promote stability in the Indo-Pacific and will be deployed in support of our shared values and interests,” it said.<\/p>\n The leaders said the aim was to “bring an Australian capability into service at the earliest achievable date”, adding: “Australia remains committed to fulfilling all of its obligations as a non-nuclear weapons state.”<\/p>\n It went on to say that the defence pact would also focus on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence and “additional undersea capabilities”.<\/p>\n Johnson said the three nations were natural allies and that the alliance would “bring us closer than ever”.<\/p>\n “This partnership will become increasingly vital for defending our interests, and… protecting our people back at home,” he said.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, the UK’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier has been deployed to the Indo-Pacific region alongside personnel and equipment from the US.<\/p>\n The joint statement said the Indo-Pacific was a region with potential flashpoints, including unresolved territorial disputes, threats from terrorism and a problem with organised crime. “It is on the frontline of new security challenges, including in cyberspace,” it said.<\/p>\n The defence agreement will have ramifications for China, BBC defence correspondent Johnathan Beale reports. Though British officials insist the new defence agreement is not a response to any one country, the UK government does say it is about ensuring prosperity, security and stability in the region and supporting a peaceful “rules-based order”. And it is no secret that Britain, the US and Australia share concerns about China’s military build up in the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n – BBC<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Britain, the US and Australia have announced a special security pact to share advanced technologies including nuclear-powered submarine know-how. An Astute-class British Navy nuclear submarine (file). The new defence partnership will initially focus on a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian Navy\u00a0Photo:\u00a0AFP The partnership, labelled Aukus, aims to “defend our shared interests in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,177],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-1344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world","tag-featured"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions\/1346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}