Australia Withdraws From Agreement On Submarines With French Naval Group - Ministers

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2021) Australia has decided to leave the $90-billion agreement on submarines with the French company of Naval Group to prefer the cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines under the newly established AUKUS alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom, several Australian ministers, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, said on Thursday.

The establishment of AUKUS was announced on late Wednesday by the leaders of the three nations. The Australian nuclear-power submarines program will become the first major project of the alliance.

"The pursuit of nuclear-powered submarine technology means that Australia will no longer proceed with the Attack class conventional submarine program with Naval Group. The Government would like to thank the Attack class submarine workforce, Naval Group, the Government of France and Lockheed Martin Australia for their efforts to date. However, accelerating changes to regional security make conventional submarines unsuited to our operational needs in the decades ahead," the ministers said in a joint statement.