SINGAPORE — Australia will spend 12 billion AUD ($7.9 billion USD) towards a new defense precinct that will include naval shipyards and AUKUS-related programs in the west of the country.
The Australian Department of Defence announced over the weekend that the investment in the Henderson Defence Precinct is a down payment for the project, adding that the precinct is expected to require investment in the order of 25 billion AUD over the decade.
The money will underpin the delivery of shipyards for the construction of ships for the Australian military, starting with landing craft for the Australian Army and eventually the planned build of eight general purpose frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
It will also include contingency docking capabilities for Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarine fleet from the early 2030s, as well as facilities for the sustainment of Royal Australian Navy ships. Money will also go to graving docks and other infrastructure for depot-level maintenance for naval vessels.
“Progressing these capabilities will be critical for Australia’s delivery of the AUKUS pathway and ensure Australia is ready to receive its first Virginia class submarine in the early 2030s,” the government statement said.
More broadly Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles pledged to continue to increase defence spending to record levels to deliver the capabilities Australia needs.
He noted in a television interview this morning that Australia plans to spend an additional 70 billion AUD on defense over the next decade under the current Labor government compared to projections made under the previous government, adding that it constituted the biggest peacetime increase in defense spending in Australian history.
In the same interview, he pointed out that the plans for the Henderson Defence Precinct will be critical to Australia’s shipbuilding and sustainment industry, as well as sustainment and maintenance of Australian and allied submarines.
“That’s really important in terms of getting more of our allied submarines into the water, more sea days,” he said. “And this is exactly what America wants.”
Marles was referring to plans for US Navy and British submarines to operate rotationally from 2027 out the RAN’s Fleet Base West in Australia under Submarine Rotational Force (West). Fleet Base West is where Australia’s submarines are homeported and is located a short distance away from the Henderson Defence Precinct.
Australia is due to receive three Virginia-class submarines from the United States under AUKUS Pillar 1, before eventually transitioning to five SSN-AUKUS submarines from the early 2040s.
The AUKUS pact is currently being reviewed by the Trump administration under a process led by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, although Marles has said in a separate media interview that he was confident that AUKUS will proceed. He declined, however, to confirm a report in the Washington Post last week that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has assured him that Australia would still receive the Virginia-class submarines.