Australia partners with UK and US to get its first nuclear-powered submarine

Australia is joining a new Indo-Pacific security partnership with the U.S. and U.K. that will allow it to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, sparking a rift with France at a time when the Biden administration is pushing allies to counter Chinese assertiveness. Australia, the UK, and the US have announced a new trilateral security partnership, with its first initiative to develop nuclear-powered submarines for Australia.

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The new alliance called AUKUS (Australia, UK, US) aims to further strengthen the existing and strong security cooperation between the three members of the grouping, and deepen ties in the Indo-Pacific region. With the development of nuclear-powered submarines, Australia will join an elite group of only six countries (India, the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China) that currently operate nuclear-powered submarines.

Australia will also be only the second country to be given access to U.S. nuclear technology to build nuclear-powered submarines, after Britain in 1958.