Overview

• Bipartisan letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls for recommitment to the 2021 AUKUS agreement to bolster Indo-Pacific security
• President Trump’s administration launched a 30-day review this month under Elbridge Colby, who has voiced doubts about its benefits and impact on US submarine availability
• Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said Canberra supports the review and remains confident that workforce and shipbuilding challenges can be overcome
• Under pillar one of AUKUS, the US will sell Australia between three and five Virginia-class nuclear submarines, with the first vessel due for delivery in 2032
• Australia has made an initial payment of A$798 million toward a total pledge of A$4.7 billion to support the US industrial base and plans to invest up to US$368 billion by the mid-2050s