Australia sends another $310 million to UK for AUKUS, and offers to test British weapons for Ukraine

The Defence Industry Minister has announced another $310 million will be spent on acquiring British nuclear reactor parts for future AUKUS submarines while revealing UK weapons destined for Ukraine could soon be tested on Australian soil.

Speaking after meeting the UK’s Defence Minister Luke Pollard in London, Pat Conroy unveiled the latest AUKUS spending which comes on top of the $4.6 billion Australia has already committed for the UK to help it improve its industrial base.

Under the AUKUS plan, Australia first intends to operate second-hand Virginia-class subs brought from the United States next decade before launching a new SSN-AUKUS fleet with the UK in the 2040s.

“I’m announcing that we have invested $310m in long-lead items for the reactors for the first two SSN-AUKUS boats,” Minister Conroy said following the Australia-UK Defence Industry Dialogue.

“Acquiring the very first parts that will go into the reactors for the first two submarines that we will construct in Adelaide beginning later this decade,” he added.

“This project will create 20,000 high-skilled, secure jobs making the most advanced submarines in the world, equipping the Royal Australian Navy with the capabilities it needs to deter conflict in our region.”

The minister will also travel to Rolls-Royce Derby to inspect work on the nuclear reactors for the future SSN AUKUS fleet and will then tour the BAE shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness to inspect design progress on the ambitious project.

“We’re hitting every milestone, and the practical manifestation of the co-operation is occurring every day,” Mr Conroy said, while describing critics of the nuclear endeavour as operating in a “fact-free environment”.

On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he also flagged moves for the British military to test unspecified missiles on Australian soil that could eventually be used by the war-torn country.

“There’s a number of advanced long-range weapons that the UK is providing or looking at providing to Ukraine and obviously testing those at our world-class facilities would advantage that process and give Ukraine further assistance in a valiant struggle against Russian aggression.”

During his meeting with Minister Pollard, the pair discussed deepening co-operation on advanced radar and looking at integrating UK weapons into the newly developed unmanned combat aircraft, the MQ-28A Ghostbat.

The MQ-28 Ghost Bat, unveiled in 2019 as the Loyal Wingman, is the first military combat aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years.

Since that time Federal governments have committed more than $2.34 billion into helping Boeing develop the multi-role, unmanned aircraft as a future RAAF frontline platform.

“If we can demonstrate successful test-firing of European weapons, then that will obviously make it more attractive to European nations. At the moment it is one of only two collaborative combat aircraft that have successfully fired a missile,” Mr Conroy said.Mr Conroy said while the UK had committed to looking at integrating their own weapons on the Ghost Bat, he played down suggestions Australia’s AUKUS partner might eventually purchase the aircraft as well.

When the Turnbull government announced a British design had been selected for the navy’s $45 billion future frigate fleet in 2018 there were expectations the UK would in turn purchase Australian military equipment but so far there have been no significant orders.

However, the Defence Industry Minister signalled that Australian made world-leading phased array radars, developed by CEA Technologies in Canberra, could eventually be sold to Britain.