US AUKUS review to take months

In what was one of the worst kept secrets of AUKUS the US Defense Department issued a statement on Wednesday saying its review was not due until the US Fall months (September-November). Initial reports suggested the review would take just 30 days, but the statement revealed the US is consulting deeply with its allies the UK and Australia over the AUKUS agreement. The review was commissioned by under-secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby to ensure it meets “America First’’ principles. Colby is a well-known AUKUS sceptic who doubts the US can produce enough nuclear-powered submarines for itself to be able to sell any to Australia from 2032 under AUKUS. Mr Colby also argues the US should not sell submarines to Australia unless Canberra provides a guarantee it will support the US in any future conflict with China over Taiwan. Australia does not declare publicly what it would do in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. The development came as the UK and Australia on Saturday announced the so-called “Geelong Agreement’’ a treaty between the two countries which covers how they co-develop the AUKUS SSN and also how submarine rotations via SRF West will work in detail. The treaty also deals with industry cooperation between the two countries and opening up opportunities for Australian firms in UK submarine supply chains and vice versa. It was a critical piece of timing and theatre for the Trump administration’s review. The UK is also playing the critical role of manufacturing the nuclear reactors for Australia’s submarines – the Albanese Government is supporting to the tune of $A4.7 billion. Opposition Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor reiterated that one of the risks in the US AUKUS review was the Albanese’s government refusal to heed US calls to increase defence spending.

Copper added to US tariff hitlist

US president Donald Trump is expected to announce a new round of global tariffs on Friday morning US time. The US president earlier this week foreshadowed applying a higher general global tariff on countries that had not reached deals with the US which means most of the world, including Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to stress in parliament that Australia had the lowest US baseline tariff among allies of just 10 per cent. However, President Trump indicated the rest of the world would cop a 15-20 per cent baseline tariff under his next tariff round from August 1. Australian Defence industry is already having to cope with a 50 per cent tariff on aluminium and steel. AIDN has urged both the US and Australian governments to take a step back from the tariff war in order to ensure vital defence trade is not held back by border cost imposts. The US government also released a factsheet on Thursday saying the US would impose a 50 percent tariff on semi-finished copper imports from August 1, though stopping short of imposing the tariff on refined copper. President Trump also indicated earlier this month that another ten categories of imports including unmanned aircraft and parts and pharmaceuticals were being reviewed to see if they too should face costly tariffs.

AUKMIN promises closer defence industry cooperation

Deep in the joint statement released by UK and Australian Ministers at their bi-lateral meeting this week was a pledge to ensure closer industry cooperation between the two countries on several fronts. Defence Minister Richard Marles and UK Defence Secretary John Healy agreed to a shared ambition to conduct a bilateral defence industry dialogue at both the senior official and ministerial levels, providing a forum to deepen defence industry collaboration, enhance joint capability development, and cooperate on procurement reform to ensure improved efficiency in capability acquisition and sustainment. Ministers agreed to strengthen their sovereign defence industries through closer collaboration between the UK’s Complex Weapons Pipeline and Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise. As a first step the Ministers announced a collaborative effort to develop modular, low-cost components for next-generation weapon systems. Ministers also agreed to deepen cooperation on Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar technology. This includes exploring the potential of using Australian AESA radar technologies for UK integrated air and missile defence applications.

Darwin port sale remains on course

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed Australia will proceed with the sale of the Port of Darwin and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s six-day China visit has not led to any change of heart. The Opposition was pressing Senator Wong in the Senate on whether the Albanese Government had changed its mind on the sale following Mr Albanese’s six-day China-Fest. But Senator Wong told that Senate, that while acknowledging China was a great power and it was important for Australia to engage with its economic partner, Canberra and Beijing still had areas where they disagreed. She said the Port of Darwin (owned by a Chinese company with alleged links to the Chinese Government) was one of them. However, the company Landbridge has repeatedly denied links to the People’s Liberation Army or Chinese Communist Party. Senator Wong said the Prime Minister has made clear that Australia did not think the port should have been sold (to Chinese interests) by the previous Coalition government and wanted to see the port return to Australian hands. She said Australia’s position had been made very public and it was appropriate the sale went through the normal commercial considerations.

Collins class summit

A Project of Concern Summit was held in Canberra this week to support the sustainment of Australia’s Collins class submarines. Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher, and Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, convened the Summit, which was attended by government and industry representatives. The Albanese Government has committed up to $5 billion over the next decade to extend the life of the Collins class and aim to avoid a capability gap until Australia transitions to its future conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. With Collins class submarines required to operate beyond their original design life, an appropriate sustainment plan is required to ensure they remain capable, conventionally powered submarines. Defence and the contractor, ASC Pty Ltd, have continued to work on the sustainment plan since Collins class was listed in 2024. This includes undertaking activities to build the submarine sustainment workforce and enhance productivity.