Trump Administration’s Defense Chief reaffirms US Commitment to AUKUS in talks with Australia.

According to information published by the US DoD on January 29 2025, the United States has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the AUKUS defense pact under the leadership of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, signaling continuity in the trilateral partnership between the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom.
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While docked at HMAS Stirling Navy Base on Garden Island, the crew of the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN 782), assisted by explosive ordnance support specialists from Thales Australia, carefully loaded an inert Tomahawk missile training shape into the vessel. (Picture source: US DoD)

AUKUS Pillar I, which focuses on the Royal Australian Navy’s transition to nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), remains the most strategically significant aspect of the agreement. Australia is set to operate a hybrid fleet consisting of U.S. Virginia-class SSNs, delivered in the early 2030s, followed by the introduction of the SSN-AUKUS, a next-generation submarine based on the British SSN(R) design but incorporating U.S. combat systems and nuclear propulsion technology. The integration of S9G pressurized water reactors, derived from U.S. Virginia-class and Ohio-class submarines, ensures that Australia’s SSNs will maintain parity with American and British counterparts in terms of power output, submerged endurance, and operational tempo. These submarines will be optimized for low-acoustic signature propulsion, advanced sonar processing, and high-bandwidth secure communication systems, making them a core component of Indo-Pacific undersea deterrence. The Trump administration’s continued backing suggests that Australia’s nuclear propulsion capability development—including the establishment of domestic reactor sustainment facilities—will remain a priority, with an emphasis on workforce training, regulatory harmonization, and classified material handling protocols.

Beyond submarines, AUKUS Pillar II expands the scope of allied defense cooperation into multi-domain warfare capabilities, emphasizing the co-development of advanced weapon systems, electronic warfare integration, and AI-enhanced battle networks. One of the primary areas of collaboration involves hypersonic and counter-hypersonic missile systems, where the U.S. is leveraging its experience with the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapon system and the U.K.’s high-speed glide vehicle research to accelerate Australia’s indigenous long-range strike capability. The Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) enterprise, central to AUKUS Pillar II, is focusing on establishing an Australian production line for next-generation munitions, ensuring logistical resilience for long-range precision fires. This includes the joint manufacturing of AGM-158B JASSM-ER, the integration of PrSM (Precision Strike Missile) variants, and potential Australian involvement in DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) successor program.

The technological convergence under AUKUS also extends to networked warfare, with a key emphasis on the integration of Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2)-compliant battle management systems. The U.S. and Australia are working to align their C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) architectures, enabling real-time sensor fusion and multi-domain strike coordination. As part of this effort, AUKUS partners are pursuing a common MQ-28 Ghost Bat autonomy framework, allowing AI-driven sensor-sharing across unmanned platforms, further enhancing distributed lethality concepts within the Indo-Pacific battlespace.

Another critical component of AUKUS is force posture realignment, particularly the expansion of U.S. rotational deployments in northern Australia. The U.S. Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) is evolving beyond a training contingent into an expeditionary force with prepositioned stocks of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM), HIMARS rocket artillery systems, and integrated air defense assets. Simultaneously, the enhancement of RAAF Base Tindal and HMAS Stirling as key operational nodes for U.S. and allied SSNs ensures that Australia becomes a strategic hub for undersea warfare operations, supporting not only its own fleet but also forward-deployed U.S. and U.K. assets. The Trump administration’s reaffirmation of AUKUS signals that these basing arrangements will continue, likely accompanied by increased investment in rapid deployment infrastructure, secure data exchange networks, and cross-domain ISR capabilities.