In the fantasyland of AUKUS, even the good news shows how badly things are going
The Pentagon is spending tens of billions buying new Virginia-class submarines. It sounds like good news, but it actually points to why AUKUS is unviable. The post In the fantasyland of AUKUS, even the good news shows how badly things are going appeared first on Crikey .
The AUKUS strategic pact, a $370 billion gamble, unfolds in two distinct realms. The first is grounded in reality, where nuclear submarines are procured, constructed, and maintained. The workforce required for these tasks is adequately staffed, and naval strategies are evaluated based on factual assessments. The second realm is a realm of fantasy, inhabited by politicians such as Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles, as well as industry figures capitalizing on the AUKUS promotion.
In this fantasy realm, it went unnoticed that the production rate for US Virginia-class attack submarines is significantly insufficient for America to repurpose several second-hand vessels to bridge the gap while British firm BAE struggles to deliver the colossal new SSN-AUKUS submarines within the anticipated timeframe of 2050.
Bernard Keane, the politics editor of Crikey, previously served as Crikey's Canberra press gallery correspondent, reporting on politics, national security, and economics. If you have any inquiries, feel free to reach out to him securely via Signal at @Bernard_Keane.
Written by urgent.news from Crikey's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
