AUKUS partners strengthen ties in Western Australia

The Chiefs of Navy for Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have strengthened their naval ties during a visit to HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.

As informed, the partners met on July 23, 2024. Australia’s Chief of Navy, Vice Adm. Mark Hammond, RAN, hosted his international counterparts, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and the U.K. First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Adm. Ben Key, ahead of the Indian Ocean Defence and Security 2024 Conference in Perth this week.

The visit is the first time Franchetti and Key have visited HMAS Stirling, which will play a role in Australia’s future fleet of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines. 

The three chiefs received a tour of the base’s facilities, followed by a meet-and-greet with Australian submariners on-board a Collins-class submarine.

They also signed a Statement of Intent for Lethality, which documents the three navies collective commitment to the enhanced lethality of their surface combatant and submarine fleets.

“Our navies operate on shared behaviors, shared values, and a shared commitment to the success and security of the Indo-Pacific region,” said Hammond. 

“Working together is how we get the best outcomes for our navies and nations, through personnel exchange programs and operational interchangeability at sea. Only this month we had our first Royal Australian Navy officers graduating from the Royal Navy’s Nuclear Reactor Course. This year our technicians have been training and learning unique skills with the U.S. Navy in Guam and embedded on-board the U.S. Submarine Tender, USS Emory S. Land (AS 39).”

The U.S. Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, Franchetti said, “AUKUS is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring together the exceptional capabilities of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. We will continue to build on our relationship, strengths, and interoperability, while at the same time uplifting the industrial bases of our three countries.“

“AUKUS is a strategically important capability collaboration, allowing us to pool expertise to accelerate the development of cutting-edge defense capabilities in a way that we could not do alone. Alongside the USN, the RN is committed to ensuring the RAN can build on its proven experience of operating conventional powered submarines to be nuclear capable as well,” Key said.

To remind, in March this year, the Australian Government selected BAE Systems and ASC to build Australia’s new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines as part of the AUKUS trilateral security pact.