An "unprecedented" cooperation announced under a radiant Californian sun: Joe Biden, with Australian and British leaders, launched a spectacular nuclear-powered submarine program on Monday, intended to stand up to China in the Pacific.
"We are putting ourselves in the best position possible to face together the challenges of today and tomorrow," said the American president, his favorite sunglasses on his nose, from a naval base in San Diego.
Surrounded by Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak, Joe Biden assured that the United States could not have "best friends", praising this three-way alliance called AUKUS, which had enraged France when it was announced there. eighteen months.
The American president had taken care of the scene: behind the three leaders, an American submarine and a military ship at the dock, large flags, and rows of sailors in uniform.
The Australian Prime Minister stressed that his country was making "the largest investment in (its) history" via this partnership, which provides for the purchase of American nuclear-powered submarines and then the construction of a new generation of devices.
According to the Australian government, this multi-decade project, which will cost nearly $40 billion over the first ten years, will generate around 20,000 jobs.
Mr. Albanese pointed out that Australia is, after Great Britain, the second country to have access to the nuclear secrets of the American Navy.
"We are first and foremost bound by a world where peace, stability and security guarantee greater prosperity," he said.
His British counterpart also praised the efforts made by the United Kingdom to boost its defense budget, and considered that with the United States and Australia, his country was committed to "the multilateral defense agreement more important for generations".
The attack submarine program, which has the ambition to reshape the Western military presence in the Pacific, will be divided into three phases, detailed the White House.
And according to a "crucial" principle, hammered home by Joe Biden: "these submarines will be nuclear-powered, but will not carry nuclear weapons", to respect the principle of non-proliferation.
First there will be a familiarization phase with Australia - which has no nuclear powered submarines, nor nuclear technology whether military or civilian.
Its sailors, engineers and technicians will be trained with American and British crews, as well as in shipyards and specialized schools in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The objective is to deploy, from 2027 and on a principle of rotation, four American submarines and a British submarine on the Australian base of Perth (west).
In a second step, and subject to the green light of the American Congress, Australia will buy three American nuclear-powered submarines of the Virginia class, with an option on two additional submersible vessels.
The submarines must be delivered from 2030.
Finally - this is the third, and most ambitious stage of the program - the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom will join forces for a new generation of attack submarines, dubbed SSN AUKUS.
These submarines will involve a gigantic industrial effort, in particular on the part of Australia, which must have a new shipyard in Adelaide, in the south.
The new ships, of British design and incorporating advanced American technologies, will be built and deployed by the United Kingdom and Australia.
They are to be delivered from the late 2030s and early 2040s.
Nuclear-powered submarines are difficult to detect, can travel great distances for long periods of time, and can carry sophisticated cruise missiles.
The conclusion of the AUKUS alliance, with the corollary of Canberra's cancellation of the contract for the acquisition of 12 French submarines, had given rise in 2021 to a diplomatic crisis with France, which had cried "treason".
From now on, the project mainly upsets China.
"We call on the United States, Britain and Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games," Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, said earlier. Monday announcements.
None of the three leaders gathered in San Diego on Monday made explicit mention of China, but Joe Biden made an implicit reference to it.
He indeed affirmed that the AUKUS alliance should ensure that "the Indo-Pacific zone remains free and open", a formula which in American diplomatic jargon means the desire to counter Chinese influence in the region.
03/14/2023 04:53:34 - San Diego (United States) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
