Australia to spend $21.2B to build submarine shipyard under AUKUS deal

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - Australia on Sunday announced that at least $21.2 billion will be spent building a construction yard to eventually build nuclear submarines for Canberra under the AUKUS agreement, local media reports said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed doubts over the AUKUS deal, pledging $2.7 billion as a down payment to secure the future of the Submarine Construction Yard in the northern Adelaide suburb of Osborne, local broadcaster SBS News reported.

The future of AUKUS has been in doldrums for months since the US announced it would review the terms of the agreement.

Under the trilateral agreement inked in 2021, the Australian Navy will acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines over the next decade from the US and the UK. The first deliveries are expected to begin in 2032.

The government hopes the project will create 10,000 jobs and up to 1,000 apprentices per year at an on-site training facility.

Enough steel to make 17 Eiffel Towers and 710,000 cubic meters of structural concrete will be used in the construction of the 420-meter- (1,378-foot-) long fabrication hall.

The new yard, scheduled for completion in 2040, will include the capability to test and commission submarines.

It will be identical to another shipyard building submarines in the UK.

Speaking to reporters, Albanese dismissed concerns that the promised shipyard would never see an AUKUS vessel.

"This is in the interest of the United States, in the interests of the UK, and in the interests of Australia," he said.