Australian Treasury Secretary Jim Chalmers said the Australian government will commit around $245 billion to a nuclear submarine program over the next 32 years under the AUKUS (Australian-UK-US security alliance) agreements. Transmits words TASS.
As the treasurer states, the cost of the nuclear submarine building program for the Australian Navy will be at least 0.15% of the country’s GDP annually during its operation. He announced that the cost will remain within the limits of 58 billion Australian dollars in the next 10 years. [38,6 млрд долларов США]but increase it later.
According to the Treasury, Australia’s current defense budget is A$48.6 billion ($32.3 billion) per year, which is equivalent to 2.11% of GDP. This amount needs to be increased to at least AUD$59.6 billion (US$39.6 billion) per year for the nuclear submarine building program to be implemented, and defense spending will increase the share of the country’s GDP to 2.6%.
Former US President Joe Biden declarationDespite the AUKUS pact and plans for nuclear submarines, Australia will remain a non-nuclear state. According to the American leader, the country will not produce the nuclear fuel necessary for submarines. Biden also assured that the promising AUKUS submarines the allies plan to produce jointly will not carry nuclear weapons either.
Source: Gazeta
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