AUKUS Partners Launch Undersea Drone Program, Australia to Receive Only Second-Hand Submarines

The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have announced a landmark programme to develop advanced unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) under their trilateral AUKUS defence pact, while revealing that Australia will receive only second-hand nuclear-powered submarines under a revised agreement.

The announcements came on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, UK Defence Secretary John Healey, and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles met to review progress on the partnership.

The UUV initiative marks the first signature project under AUKUS Pillar 2—the arm of the agreement focused on developing advanced military technologies across the three nations’ defence industries. Delivery of the vehicles is set to begin in 2027.

According to a joint statement, the program will improve reconnaissance and strike capabilities, and “bolster superiority in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, and contested littoral maneuver.”

Healey described the project as delivering cutting-edge sensors and weapons systems for undersea drones, saying it would give the allies the ability to “detect, deter, and deal with threats, including to our underwater cables and pipelines.” The UK has committed more than $170 million to the initiative. Australia and the United States have not announced their respective contributions.

The announcement comes amid growing international alarm over attacks on undersea infrastructure, a theme that dominated much of the Singapore forum. Marles addressed the issue directly in his conference speech, pointing to what he called an escalating series of attacks against subsea critical infrastructure over the past 18 months.

In a notable admission of frustration with the pace of the partnership, Healey said, “For too long in AUKUS, we talked too much and delivered too little.”

On submarines, reports confirm a significant revision to the original 2021 deal. According to SBS News, all three nuclear-powered submarines Australia will acquire will now be second-hand Virginia-class vessels sourced from the United States. Under the original agreement, Australia had been expected to receive at least two used submarines and one new vessel.

Marles said the change would deliver significant cost savings. The joint trilateral statement framed the revision as a deliberate streamlining of the arrangement, aimed at simplifying supply-chain management, operational requirements, and maximising cost efficiencies.

Hegseth sought to reassure Canberra over US commitment to the deal. “Those subs obviously in the hands of Australia are important for your defence but they also add to the combined defence of what we would need to do, heaven forbid, there were a contingency,” he told SBS News.

The AUKUS pact was originally signed in 2021 and is widely viewed as a strategic counterweight to China’s growing military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing has strongly opposed the arrangement.