July 25 (UPI) -- Britain and Australia confirmed Friday that they would proceed with a $245 billion nuclear-powered submarine deal as part of a defense pact between the two countries and the United States -- despite Washington rethinking its involvement.
Following a meeting, Australian Defense Secretary Richard Marles said he and British Defense Secretary John Healey would sign a 50-year cooperation treaty on Saturday to deliver an Australian fleet of submarines, powered by British nuclear reactors.
Marles hailed the deal, part of a trilateral security pact signed in 2021, as the most significant U.K.-Australian treaty signed in the 124-year history of modern Australia.
The AUKUS alliance, aimed at countering China's military rise in the Asia-Pacific, called for Australia to be armed with eight nuclear submarines, three repurposed from the United States' existing fleet and the remainder a new SSN-AUKUS submarine that Australia and Britain would build together.
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