Royal Australian Navy Collins-class submarines are set to be replaced in the 2040’s by a UK designed SSN AUKUS fleet. (Photo courtesy of the Australian Defence Department)
WASHINGTON — Three Democratic House lawmakers today introduced legislation aimed at granting the necessary authorities for the United States to transfer Virginia-class fast attack submarines to Australia as part of the trilateral security agreement dubbed AUKUS.
The bill, the AUKUS Undersea Defense Act, was introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks N.Y. and sponsored by Reps. Joe Courtney, Conn. and Ami Bera, Calif. In addition to providing authorities for the submarines to be transferred, the legislation would also enable the US to train Australian private sector defense personnel and integrate Australian financial contributions to the US defense industrial base.
As one of the agreement’s most vocal supporters in Congress, Courtney has raised a host of legal issues that could hamper the United States’ ability to participate in the security pact tied to the United Kingdom and Australia. He recently laid out his views in an exclusive op-ed for Breaking Defense detailing how Congress should go about removing those barriers.
“Introduction of this enabling legislation is a critical first step towards swift congressional action to support this enterprise,” Courtney, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Seapower and projection forces subcommittee, said in a statement published today. “Passage of this common sense bill, which was crafted in collaboration with the Department of Defense, will demonstrate the commitment of the US Congress to the AUKUS mission. I look forward to working to move this effort forward.”
The bill’s introduction follows testimony from Mara Karlin, assistant secretary of defense for strategies, plans and capabilities, where she urged lawmakers to take the administration’s proposal for enabling “Pillar 1” of AUKUS.
“Absent this legislative proposal we actually don’t have a way to take that money in,” she told House Foreign Affairs Committee members during a May 23 hearing. She was referring to the financial assistance the Australian government has promised to provide the United States in exchange for executing certain parts of the security pact.
While leaders of the three countries presented the overarching AUKUS plan earlier this year, many of the specific details for the agreement are still unknown. For instance, it is not clear if the United States will provide three or five Virginia-class submarines to the Australians as an interim capability before SSN AUKUS is online.
It’s also not clear how many of those submarines will be used or fresh off the production line, although media reports this week indicate that senior Australian military leaders expect to receive at least one new Virginia-class boat.
