Category: AUKUS

Not Impossible’: UK Looks to British Troops in Darwin

British soldiers based in Australia could be part of the next step to bringing the two military forces closer together. UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said stationing British troops in Darwin, where U.S. marines have a presence, was “not impossible” as his nation looked to expand its influence in the Pacific. “It comes up…


USS Canberra: US Commissions First Navy Warship in Foreign Port

SYDNEY—The United States commissioned a warship in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday—the first time a U.S. Navy vessel joined active service at a foreign port—as the two close allies step up their military ties in response to China’s expanding regional reach. The Independence-class littoral combat ship—named after a Royal Australian Navy cruiser that was sunk while…


Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves Transfer of Nuclear Submarines to Australia

The U.S. Foreign Relations Senate Committee has triggered the start of the process of attaining U.S. Congressional approval for the United States to temporarily give Australia two nuclear-powered submarines, alongside other measures to deepen further defense sharing with members of the pro-liberty AUKUS defence alliance. In a bipartisan move on July 13, the committee authorized…


Australia and Japan Conduct Military Exercises in South China Sea

Australia and Japan have conducted military exercises in the highly contested South China Sea as both countries seek to quell Beijing’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. The military exercises took place from June 24-25 and followed the signing of a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation (JDSC) in October 2022 that seeks closer defence and security ties…


Australians Remain Frosty Towards China as Wariness Over Taiwan Military Threat Grows

A new study has revealed that in the event of a military conflict between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan, just over half of Australians would be against physically entering the contest on Taiwanese soil. However, Australians were keen to still support Taiwan, with 80 percent saying they would accept Taiwanese refugees into Australia, 76 percent…


Australia Could End Up With Potentially Inferior US Fighter Jets

Australia’s new F-35 fighter jets may be technologically out of date when they arrive in Australia in December after the Pentagon’s decision to delay the approval of the plane’s new weapons system. Known as the TR-3, the system allows the new Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) to run a software platform called Block 4 that provides…


Replacing Aging Canadian Submarine Fleet Appears Unlikely to Happen Soon

How Canada might go about replacing its aging submarine fleet is an ongoing exercise, but the nuclear-powered option looks to be off-the-table. This much is not new; however, Canada was also just reminded of its exclusion from the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact between its close allies the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. It may be…


White House Says No Plans to Invite Canada to AUKUS, a Concern for Canada’s Military

There are no plans to invite Canada to a security pact between Australia, the UK, and the United States focused on defence technology cooperation, says U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. The trilateral security pact, AUKUS, was formed in 2021 and has been seen as a way to counter China’s growing military presence in…


To Counter CCP, AUKUS Need to Deepen Cooperation in Key Defense Technologies

AUKUS, the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, needs to accelerate and deepen cooperation on key defence technologies, including hypersonics, electronic warfare, and undersea capabilities, in order to effectively counter the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),  a think tank report shows. The collective strength of the AUKUS countries has turned…


LIVE 12 PM ET: Morris Johnson, Scott Morrison, and Pompeo Speak on AUKUS at Hudson Institute Event

The architects of the AUKUS agreement, former U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo; former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson; and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, discuss the AUKUS agreement with other panelists in a Hudson Institute event at 12:00 p.m. ET on May 31. The agreement is a trilateral security pact between Australia, the…