SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said on Wednesday it would invest billions of dollars over the next two decades to expand a shipyard in Western Australia that will serve as a maintenance base for the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines.
The government will invest A$127 million ($85 million) over three years to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard near Perth, Defense Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.
“The Defense Precinct at Henderson will improve Australia's shipbuilding industry and sustainability while supporting Western Australia's ongoing naval construction and Australia's nuclear-powered submarine route,” Marles said.
The facility will also build a new landing craft for the Australian military and new general purpose frigates for the navy, he said.
The shipyard will “support tens of billions of dollars in defense investment” over the next 20 years and create about 10,000 local jobs, Marles said.
The AUKUS defense agreement signed in 2021 between Australia, Britain and the US will see Australia buy up to five nuclear-powered submarines from Washington in the early 2030s before jointly building and operating a new class, the SSN- AUKUS, and Britain, for almost ten years. later on.
AUKUS will be the first time Washington has shared nuclear-propulsion technology since it did so with Britain in the 1950s, although the submarines will not be nuclear-armed. The deal is expected to cost Australia up to A$368 billion ($245.8 billion) by 2055, according to government estimates.
($1 = 1.4975 Australian dollars)
