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2024-10-16 19:17:29 UTC
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 would become the maintenance hub for its nuclear-powered
AUKUS submarine fleet.
The government will make an initial investment of A$127 million ($85
million) over three years to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard
near Perth, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.
"The Defence Precinct at Henderson will optimise Australia's shipbuilding
and sustainment industry while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding in
Western Australia and Australia's nuclear-powered submarine pathway,"
Marles said.
The facility will also build the new landing craft for the Australian army
and the new general-purpose frigates for the navy, he said.
The shipyard "will underpin tens of billions of dollars of investment in
defence capabilities" over the next 20 years and create about 10,000 local
jobs, Marles said.
The AUKUS defence pact signed in 2021 between Australia, Britain and the
U.S. will see Australia buy up to five nuclear-powered submarines from
Washington in the early 2030s before jointly building and operating a new
class, SSN-AUKUS, with Britain, roughly a decade later.
AUKUS will be the first time Washington has shared nuclear-propulsion
technology since it did so with Britain in the 1950s though the submarines
would not be nuclear armed. The deal is expected to cost Australia up to
about A$368 billion ($245.8 billion) by 2055, according to government
estimates.
($1 = 1.4975 Australian dollars)
https://www.reuters.com/
dollars over the next two decades to expand a shipyard in Western
Australia that would become the maintenance hub for its nuclear-powered
AUKUS submarine fleet.
The government will make an initial investment of A$127 million ($85
million) over three years to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard
near Perth, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.
"The Defence Precinct at Henderson will optimise Australia's shipbuilding
and sustainment industry while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding in
Western Australia and Australia's nuclear-powered submarine pathway,"
Marles said.
The facility will also build the new landing craft for the Australian army
and the new general-purpose frigates for the navy, he said.
The shipyard "will underpin tens of billions of dollars of investment in
defence capabilities" over the next 20 years and create about 10,000 local
jobs, Marles said.
The AUKUS defence pact signed in 2021 between Australia, Britain and the
U.S. will see Australia buy up to five nuclear-powered submarines from
Washington in the early 2030s before jointly building and operating a new
class, SSN-AUKUS, with Britain, roughly a decade later.
AUKUS will be the first time Washington has shared nuclear-propulsion
technology since it did so with Britain in the 1950s though the submarines
would not be nuclear armed. The deal is expected to cost Australia up to
about A$368 billion ($245.8 billion) by 2055, according to government
estimates.
($1 = 1.4975 Australian dollars)
https://www.reuters.com/