The State Department recently approved a potential $2 billion foreign military sale (FMS) to Australia for AUKUS-related training.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of this possible sale on December 1.
Australia’s FMS request includes several articles and services that will specifically support Pillar I of the AUKUS cooperation, which aims to have the U.S. and U.K. help Australia field nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs).
DSCA said this includes the kind of equipment to train Royal Australian navy crews in how to operate SSNs.
DSCA said this sale will specifically advance the AUKUS agreement “by providing the equipment to train Royal Australian Navy crews in areas such as submarine navigation, communications, ship control, and other capabilities. Additionally, it will also provide the means to train select Australian civilians and contractors at United States Naval Shipyards.”
The agency noted U.S. training of private Australian industry personnel in how to build and maintain SSNs will only occur after the State Department explicitly authorizes such action, in accordance with the law.
The primary contractors under this FMS include HII [HII], General Dynamics Electric Boat [GD], and Systems Planning Analysis. HII and Electric Boat are the American builders of SSNs.
DSCA said this sale will advance mutual U.S. and Australian security objectives as the alliance is “critical to U.S. national interests, and the United States has a long history of working with Australia to develop and maintain strong defense capabilities.”
The agency also said this will enable an effective capacity to protect Australian maritime interests and infrastructure in support of its strategic mission.
The announcement said implementing this sale would require assigning about 70 more U.S. government and contractor representatives to Australia for three years to support “in-person training, equipment familiarization, and on-site engineering and maintenance of simulation and training devices.”
Concurrently, a joint statement by the U.S., U.K. and Australian defense ministers published the same day confirmed that the next U.S. SSN visit to Australia will be in the first half of 2024 and the first maintenance of an American SSN in Australia will occur in the second half of 2024.
“This will represent a substantial increase in Australian Defence Force participation in maintenance activities on U.S. SSNs,” they said.
During a November 30 event, Under Secretary of the Navy Erik Raven first revealed the planned 2024 Australian submarine maintenance activities, which will use the USS Emory S. Land hosting 30 Australian exchange sailors deploying to participate in maintenance (Defense Daily, Dec. 1).
The ministers also said Australian sailors will start building maintenance skills and qualifications in Guam in early 2024 in the lead up to Australia hosting Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West), with up to four U.S. SSNs and one U.K. SSN. SRF-West may be operational as soon as 2027.
They said these activities “represent a substantial increase in Australian Defence Force participation in maintenance activities on U.S. SSNs.”