Good newsthe US Congress is introducing 2 key bills that would speed up the AUKUS process. If the bills pass before Trump is possibly voted in on November 5, 2024 this may help save AUKUS.
In May 2023 two Republican senators, Jim Risch, the most senior Republican on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Bill Hagerty, introduced the TORPEDO Act "Truncating Onerous Regulations for Partners and Enhancing Deterrence Operations (TORPEDO)". That bill would speed up the process of exporting certain US AUKUS related technology to Australia. This is relevant to AUKUS Pillar 1 (SSNs) and Pillar 2 (quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and undersea capabilities, etc).
On June 9, 2023 Democrat congressman Joe
Courtney along with Gregory Meeks and Ami Bera introduced the AUKUS Undersea
Defense Actwhich would provides legislative authority to allow for
the transfer of Virginia SSNs to Australia. The bill would also lead to the
training of Australian private sector defence personnel, as well as the
integration of Australian financial contributions to the US defence industrial
base.
More see the Australian Financial Review
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Bad newsthat the influential US
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
has pointed to the serious production delays in Virginias earmarked for the US
Navy. See this report. This might
tend to persuade many more US admirals and politicians that Virginia production
can only meet US needs at the expense of any AUKUS agreements.
More see the Washington Examiner