Aukus: US, UK and Australia to develop underwater drone technology

The country will become just the second to receive Washington’s elite nuclear propulsion technology after the UK, which began receiving it decades ago.

But questions have been increasingly asked in Australia about whether the country’s biggest-ever defence project could be achieved in time to replace their ageing submarines – or if at all.

The Aukus submarines are only scheduled to be ready in the 2040s. In the meantime, the US and UK will be rotating their existing nuclear-powered submarines through Australia, and in the 2030s Australia will buy second-hand nuclear submarines from the US.