Taps Coogan – March 16th, 2023

Enjoy The Sounding Line? Click here to subscribe for free.

The ability to field nuclear submarines is a surprisingly elite club. As the following chart from Statista highlights, to date, only six countries posses the technology: the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and most recently India (in partnership with France).

However, owing to the AUKUS defense partnership (Australia, UK, and US), the US and UK will be working to provide Australia with the unique capability. Australia is expected to purchase at least three and as many as five Virginia Class fast attack submarines from the US in the 2030s followed by a the construction of more subs in Australia based on an as-of-yet undeveloped ‘AUKUS’ design to be shared with the UK.

The sale of Virginia subs to Australia will mark the first ever sale of a US nuclear powered submarine to a foreign country and the second instance of sharing of nuclear sub technology (the only other being to the UK).

The unlimited range afforded to nuclear submarines makes them ideal for patrolling Australia’s enormous maritime territory and is expected to help moderate a looming outnumbering of western subs in the Pacific thanks to China’s massive naval expansion and large fleet of non-nuclear subs.