Page 10 - The Indian EYE 042823

OPINION APRIL 28, 2023 | The Indian Eye 10

The San Diego Roadmap for

AUKUS: Hits and Misses

ABHAY KUMAR SINGH of the AUKUS trilateral security ventional submarines (SSK). The tablished for AUKUS to oversee the
pact on 15 September 2021 surprised then French Foreign Minister Jean- two parallel lines of efforts, namely,
n March 2023, the US President the global strategic community. This Yves Le Drain called the AUKUS SSN construction and the develop-
along with the Prime Ministers of was considering the fact the AUKUS deal a stab in the back for France. ment of advanced technologies. The
Ithe UK and Australia, unveiled entailed the sharing of the coveted The announcement garnered strong areas of cooperation in advanced
the much-anticipated roadmap for nuclear propulsion technology by the reactions from China which accused technologies were expanded to in-
AUKUS in San Diego. The joint US and the UK with Australia. The AUKUS of being a textbook example clude the development of hyperson-
statement envisages a multi-phased last time the sharing of such sensitive of nuclear proliferation. Other na- ic technology, defense innovation,
roadmap spanning more than two technology happened was over six tions, including Australia’s neighbor information sharing and Electronic
decades for the delivery of nuclear decades ago as part of the US–UK New Zealand, expressed strong criti- Warfare Capabilities (EWC).
attack submarines (SSN) to Austra- Mutual Defense Agreement of 1958. cism of AUKUS citing nuclear prolif- In the one year since AUKUS
lia. The roadmap has certainly laid The Joint Statement released on the eration concerns in the South Pacific. was announced, there were a num-
to rest much of the speculations re- announcement envisaged a shared In the ensuing months after the ber of initiatives and high-level visits
garding the class of SSNs that Aus- ambition for supporting Australia to announcement, Australia, the UK that laid the foundation for build-
tralia would opt for, the time-frame acquire SSNs for its Royal Australian and US made swift headways in es- ing Australia’s capacity to build and
for the delivery and development of Navy (RAN). Also, cooperation in tablishing a cooperative framework operated SSNs. For training RAN’s
the industrial ecosystem for the con- the development of advanced tech- for achieving AUKUS objectives. officers aboard American SSNs,
struction of these SSNs. Despite a nologies like Artificial Intelligence On 22 November 2021, these three the Australia–US Submarine Offi-
concrete roadmap being presented (AI), quantum technologies, under- countries signed a legally binding cers Pipeline Act was introduced in
in San Diego, there are significant sea capabilities and cyber capabilities agreement known as the Exchange the US Congress on 15 June 2022.
uncertainties that persist considering was pledged. of Naval Propulsion Information Meanwhile, the relations between
the long time-frame, the enormity The announcement of AUKUS Agreement (ENNPIA). This agree- France and Australia have consid-
of the economic investment and the resulted in a diplomatic spat between ment set the stage for the sharing erably improved. In June 2022, the
transfer of sensitive technology that Australia and France as it led to the of critical information pertaining to Albanese Government announced
the project demands. scrapping of their multi-billion-dol- naval nuclear propulsion. By April an AUD 585 million settlement with
The spontaneous announcement lar deal for the construction of con- 2022, a governance structure was es- Continued on next page... >>

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