What’s in the news?

• Australia is set to provide 4.6 billion Australian dollars ($3bn) to British industry to help support the construction of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS deal with the United Kingdom and the United States and ensure its new vessels arrive on time.

About the Deal

• Australia, the UK and the US first announced the AUKUS trilateral security alliance in 2021 to help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines in the Pacific region. 
• Officially, the deal was made to emphasise upon the countries’ “shared commitment to a free-and-open Indo-Pacific region”. In effect, it seeks to combat China’s ambitions in the region.
• China has claimed the AUKUS deal risks setting off an arms race in the Asia Pacific.

The Indo-Pacific region

• The region stretches from the western or the Pacific coastline of the United States to the Indian Ocean. 
• It hosts more than half of the world’s population and some of the biggest economies, accounting for 60% of the global GDP and two-thirds of global economic growth. The strategic region covers 65% of the world’s ocean and about 25% of its land area.
• China has been an aggressive player in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, staking territorial claims across the resource-rich region. China’s increasing aggression against Taiwan and in the South China Sea has been of particular note. 
• While China’s territorial ambitions have elicited strong reactions from across the West, Australia, a traditional centre of influence in the Pacific, has been most directly impacted. Crucially, unlike Australia, China has multiple nuclear-capable submarines.

How will nuclear submarines help Australia?

• Conventional diesel-engine submarines have batteries that keep and propel the vessel underwater. The life of these batteries can vary from a few hours to a few days. While newer Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarines have additional fuel cells that increase the submarine’s endurance, these are used only at strategic times and can only be replenished in port. 
• Both conventional and AIP subs need to come to the surface to recharge their batteries using the diesel engine.
• Nuclear-powered submarines, on the other hand, have an internal nuclear reactor, giving them near infinite endurance to operate and stay submerged – effectively, a nuclear submarine only needs to port/surface when it is out of food and other essential supplies for the crew. Typically, nuclear subs are also faster than conventional submarines.
• This allows them to reach far out into the ocean and launch attacks on the enemy, an important capability for blue water navies (maritime forces capable of operating in the deep waters of the open oceans). 
• It will give the Royal Australian Navy the capability to go into the South China Sea to protect its assets and conduct patrols, a capability which it currently does not possess.