Two key US senators recently raised major concerns about the AUKUS pact with President Joe Biden, saying the plan to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarine technology risked stressing America’s industrial base to its “breaking point”.
In a letter to Biden sent on December 21, Democratic Senator Jack Reed and Republican Senator James Inhofe explicitly warned against any plan to sell or transfer Virginia-class submarines to Australia before the US Navy meets its current requirements.Credit:Reed is the chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees the US military and Department of Defence. Inhofe, whose Senate career ended this week, was the top Republican on the committee at the time the letter was sent.
“We are concerned that what was initially touted as a ‘do no harm’ opportunity to support Australia and the United Kingdom and build long-term competitive advantages for the US and its pacific allies, may be turning into a zero-sum game for scarce, highly advanced US SSNs.
They warn that that selling or leasing Virginia-class submarines to Australia would “make the US Navy less capable of meeting sovereign wartime and peacetime requirements”.
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