Australia and UK Strengthen Ties with New Defence Treaty #defencenews #aukus #uk #australia
Channel: Soldiers Five
Date: 2024-03-22

On the 21st March Australian defence minister Richard Marles and his UK counterpart Grant Shapps met in Canberra to sign a new Defence Treaty. 

The treaty includes closer collaboration on undersea warfare, intelligence and military exercises. As well as provisions for respective forces to operate together in each other’s countries, such as the joint training of Ukrainian troops in the U.K. 

The pact builds on the Aukus partnership that Australia signed in 2021 with the US and UK to overhaul its defence strategy and respond to China’s military build-up.  

Australia will invest £2.4bn in expanding Rolls-Royce’s nuclear reactor facilities in the UK these will be used in the as yet unnamed AUKUS SSN’s.  

These will be built by a joint venture between BAE Systems and the Australian government owned ASC and delivered some time in the 2040s.  

Grant Shapps said the project would create 7,000 British jobs at sites including Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and Derby.