Singapore, May 30 (IANS) A Pillar-II signature project was announced by Australia, United Kingdom and the US (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership in Singapore on Saturday,
Australia’s Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey made the joint announcement at the US Embassy in Singapore, where they reaffirmed their commitment to delivering the AUKUS partnership.
The first ‘AUKUS Pillar II Signature Project: developing cutting-edge payloads and enabling systems for AUKUS partners’ Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles (UUVs)’ will see deliveries starting in 2027.
“This project is intended to significantly enhance AUKUS partners’ ability to protect critical national seabed infrastructure; deploy cutting-edge surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike capabilities; conduct logistics operations; and bolster superiority in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, and contested littoral manoeuvre,” read the joint statement.
It also mentioned that the Pillar I, to support Australia’s acquisition of Conventionally-Armed, Nuclear-Powered Submarines, also remains on track.
The statement confirmed that key milestones continue to be met for Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West) with the ministers announcing the finalisation of necessary arrangements for the establishment of SRF-West in 2027.
They also welcomed the proposed approach to streamline Australia’s acquisition of Virginia-class submarines (VCS) and acknowledged significant progress in the design and delivery of SSN-AUKUS, which will provide the UK and Australia with an advanced warfighting capability.
The three countries also confirmed their support for expanding the breadth of the AUKUS licence-free environment between AUKUS partners by taking expeditious and practical steps to narrow the list of excluded technologies.
“The signature project will reinforce our collective deterrence efforts and superiority in the maritime domain through the accelerated delivery of advanced capabilities to our warfighters,” the statement noted.
“The undersea environment is vital to the security and prosperity of AUKUS nations, supporting global trade, national defence, and international security,” it added
–IANS
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