The United Kingdom will ramp up defense spending by $6 billion. In a statement released Sunday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to use the extra spending, spread over two years, to replenish ammunition stocks, modernize the UK’s nuclear submarine program and fund the “next phase” of AUKUS, a security pact struck between the three nations in 2021.
The partners are expected to announce that Australia will purchase at least four nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines from the US, then build a modified version of the British Astute-class submarine with US combat systems and weapons during the second phase of the program.
“We have seen all too clearly in the last year how global crises impact us at home, with Russia’s appalling invasion of Ukraine driving up energy and food prices. We will fortify our national defences, from economic security to technology supply chains and intelligence expertise, to ensure we are never again vulnerable to the actions of a hostile power,” Sunak said in the statement.
The British prime minister wants to increase defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product in the longer term, according to the statement. To that end, defense spending will be reviewed in 2025, the statement said. In 2021/22, the UK spent 2.2% of its GDP on military expenditure, according to the World Bank, amounting to around $55 billion (£46 billion).
Australia is also preparing for the future with the AUKUS pact, which Prime Minster Albanese called “a new dawn for Australia’s defence policy.”
The nuclear submarine plan will create 20,000 direct Australian jobs over the next 30 years, the prime minister’s office confirmed to CNN on Monday. It is expected to cost more than $133 billion (200 billion Australian dollars) over three decades, The Australian newspaper reported.
“This is about jobs, including jobs and manufacturing and Adelaide in particular will be a big beneficiary of this announcement, as well as Western Australia,” Albanese said.