The head of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine taskforce insists Australia will retain full operational control over the submarines, while potentially having US or British engineers on board to provide technical advice.
The comments follow renewed debate in recent weeks over whether the flagship project of the Aukus pact – which relies on support from the US and the UK – will lead to an erosion of Australian sovereignty.
The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has been calling on the government to answer whether the submarines could be “operated, sustained and maintained by Australia without the support or supervision of the US navy”, and whether that effectively meant “sovereignty would be shared with the US”.
But the head of the taskforce advising the Australian government on the acquisition of at least eight submarines, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, used an interview with ABC TV on Monday evening to assert Australian control.
“When we take command of our first boat, we will have sovereign capability,” he told the 7.30 program.
“We will be commanding and controlling, under the Australian government direction, that nuclear-powered submarine.”
Mead allowed for the possibility Australia would need advice from foreign engineers – but said that would not limit Australian command and control.
“Yes, we may have US or UK seariders on board to assist,” he told the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson.
“We would expect anyone, whether it be a foreign engineer or an Australian engineer, to provide advice. Ultimately the commanding officer of that submarine – the Australian – would have command and control over the reactor, over the submarine, unequivocal.”
Mead continued to argue that the nuclear reactors powering the submarines – to be supplied from overseas – would be “welded shut” and would not need refuelling during the life of the boat, so Australia would not need to manufacture nuclear fuel.
But Mead said the plan would require Australia to send personnel to US “design facilities”. That would enable Australia to understand “every element of detail of that reactor”, he said.
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Mead did not rule out the possibility that Australia might build its own nuclear reactors in the future, although that would be a decision for government.
“We are not envisioning that at the moment, we haven’t gone into that at the moment,” he said.
Like the defence minister, Richard Marles, Mead expressed confidence that the plan to be announced soon would ensure there was no capability gap between the retirement of Australia’s existing Collins class diesel-electric submarines and the entry into service of nuclear-powered boats. But he did not provide specifics.
Mead also described the purpose of nuclear-powered submarines as being to “put the greatest question of doubt in the enemy’s mind” and “if necessary, respond with massive firepower”.
Marles used a speech to parliament last week to declare that acquiring nuclear-powered submarines would “dramatically enhance” Australia’s sovereignty, rather than undermine it.
Marles, who is also the deputy prime minister, said “the reality is that almost all of Australia’s high-end capability is developed in cooperation with our partners”.
Marles said Australia would “always make sovereign, independent decisions on how our capabilities are employed”.
In the wake of that speech, Turnbull tweeted that it was “quite a different thing to have a major platform that cannot be operated without the supervision/support of another country”.
My point is simply that if the nuclear subs require ongoing supervision and support from the US such that they cannot be operated without US concurrence then they are not sovereign Australian capabilities in the normal meaning of that term.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) February 9, 2023
Turnbull said on Monday evening: “I think the question which has not been answered is: could the submarines be operated if US technical advice/support were withdrawn? The entire resources of the Australian news media have been unable to pin the government or the navy down on that.”
Paul Keating, the former Labor prime minister has previously raised concerns about increased reliance on US support and suggested Australia’s sovereignty was being “wilfully suborned”.