Australia to spend up to US$245.8 billion by 2055 on Aukus nuclear submarine shipyard

The government will make an initial investment of A$127 million (US$85 million) over three years to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard near Perth, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.

“The Defence Precinct at Henderson will optimise Australia’s shipbuilding and sustainment industry while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia and Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine pathway,” Marles said.

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The facility will also build the new landing craft for the Australian army and the new general-purpose frigates for the navy, he said.

The shipyard “will underpin tens of billions of dollars of investment in defence capabilities” over the next 20 years and create about 10,000 local jobs, Marles said.

Aukus will be the first time Washington has shared nuclear-propulsion technology since it did so with Britain in the 1950s though the submarines would not be nuclear armed. The deal is expected to cost Australia up to about A$368 billion (US$245.8 billion) by 2055, according to government estimates.