Opening remarks AUKUS Defence Ministers' Meeting, Singapore

SUBJECTS: AUKUS; Pillar II Signature Project. 

PETE HEGSETH, US SECRETARY OF WAR: Welcome. Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to welcome Deputy Prime Minister Marles and Secretary Healey here to the US Embassy in Singapore. Thanks for joining us today for the AUKUS Defence Ministers’ Meeting. Now last year, President Trump directed that we move full steam ahead on AUKUS and I'm proud to say that we've made great progress on that front and look forward to discussing our efforts to strengthen AUKUS and ensure its long-term success. So, as you all know, Pillar I is at an important inflection point. We're going to stay on track to stand up Submarine Rotational Force‑West, SRF‑West, in 2027. And just this month I authorised the establishment of naval support activity Stirling, submarine squadron three, and the lead maintenance activity to support SRF‑West. This means the first US Navy sailors will begin arriving in Western Australia later this year. I'm grateful for Australia's commitment to invest up to [US] $5 billion into HMAS Stirling for SRF-West, which supports the arrival of US personnel. Australia has also plans to invest up to [US] $8 billion at its Henderson shipyard and up to [US] $21 billion at the Osborne shipyard to support submarine construction. Real investment in shared capabilities. And we're encouraged to see continued Australian investment in its sovereign submarine capabilities, and a willingness for both Australia and the UK to increase burden sharing. Now, under Pillar II we're accelerating delivery of advanced capabilities to our war fighters. Together, today, we're pleased to announce the first AUKUS Pillar II signature project focused on fielding advanced Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles, or UUVs, and I want to thank these two gentlemen for their leadership in ensuring we stayed on track with Pillar II and found something critical to all three of our countries. The signature project will deliver a suite of highly adaptable, multi-mission UUV payloads designed to support undersea operations and maintain our collective advantage in maritime domain. The United States, as we've said from the beginning, and we think the review we undertook only strengthened this partnership, remains committed to the AUKUS partnership and is moving as quickly as possible to enhance our combined submarine presence in the Pacific region. Deputy Prime Minister Marles, Secretary Healey, thank you again. We look forward to our discussion today and I hand the podium over to the Deputy Prime Minister. Thank you. 

RICHARD MARLES, AUSTRALIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you. It’s great to be here with my good friend Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, and my good friend John Healey, the UK Secretary of Defence, for this year's AUKUS Defence Ministers’ Meeting. And what we are announcing today is hugely significant in the entire AUKUS journey. That we are announcing today the first signature project under Pillar II, which will see all three countries invest in the development of cutting-edge payloads and enabling systems for Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles is a momentous occasion in what is the AUKUS journey. This is the three countries putting real money behind a capability that we will put into the hands of the war fighter next year. And we are enormously pleased that we have been able to reach agreement about the focus of this project, but also be able to put real dollars behind it to make sure that we are actually delivering real capability to the service members of our three defence forces. As Secretary Hegseth has just said, Pillar I is also happening at a pace. We are on track to see the Submarine Rotational Force‑West stood up from the end of next year. And really, since 2023, we have seen visits by both UK and US nuclear‑powered submarines to HMAS Stirling south of Perth. And in each of those visits we've seen an increasing complexity in the maintenance that we have been undertaking in relation to each of those submarines. Last year we had the USS Vermont attend HMAS Stirling without a tender, and we did a significant package of work on that and this year we've had HMS Anson, a UK Astute class submarine, at HMAS Stirling, where again a significant amount of maintenance work was done on that. And so to be working through all of that and to be in a position where HMAS Stirling will be able to host the Submarine Rotational Force‑West from the end of next year is again a really significant achievement. And I'm really pleased that during the course of the day we will be able to work through the implementing arrangements with both of our partners in relation to that. And in terms of phase three, which is the building of submarines in Australia to be delivered in the early 2040s, again, work is at a pace to establish the construction yard at the Osborne naval facility in South Australia. All of this is the single biggest industrial project in Australia's history. All of this represents the biggest leap in Australia's military capability in more than a century, really, since the establishment of the Navy. And it is being achieved through the cooperation with the UK and with the United States, and I am deeply indebted to both Pete and John for their enormous cooperation in making this happen.

JOHN HEALEY, UK SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE: Thank you, good afternoon. Indo-Pacific security and Euro‑Atlantic security are indivisible. What happens here matters to Brits at home, it matters to Americans, it matters to Aussies too. That's why I believe AUKUS is the most significant military partnership since NATO. But for too long with AUKUS, we talked too much and delivered too little. That has now changed under our three governments and as President Trump has said, we're now full steam ahead on AUKUS. Just weeks after the three of us last met in Washington in December, HMS Anson set off for Western Australia, where she docked and underwent a maintenance program at HMAS Stirling in Perth. This was a proud first for the Royal Navy and a path for more to follow. Back where Anson started life in Barrow, and in Derby, we're driving the delivery now of her replacements. The first four reactors for that new SSN-AUKUS submarine fleet are now under construction. We’re putting 6 billion pounds of new investment in this Parliament to expand production, raise productivity, and increase the pace of build. And this is the progress of the first pillar of AUKUS. To put the most powerful attack submarines ever built into the waters of the Indo‑Pacific, the Euro‑Atlantic and the High North. And today we confirm also the first ever signature project under Pillar II of AUKUS. This will rapidly give our forces the very most advanced battlefield technologies as together we produce a range of cutting-edge sensors and weapons systems for undersea drones. This will give us the ability to detect, to deter, and to deal with threats, including to our underwater cables and pipelines on which so much of our daily life depends. This is backed by the very best of the defence industry and innovations in all three nations, and I'm backing it now with more than 150 million pounds of British money from the government. It’ll form part in the UK of our new hybrid navy. It will allow us to detect, to fight, and to win in the undersea battle. Make no mistake, this is a big step forward. It's a breakthrough that has not been achieved in the AUKUS partnership before now. And for us, AUKUS means new advanced technology, it means the world's most advanced submarines, and it means new jobs back at home. And what we do together as three nations strengthens deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, it strengthens deterrence in Euro-Atlantic and in the High North. Pete, AUKUS is delivering that peace through strength that you talked about today, and that is set out in your National Defense Strategy. It's at the heart of the philosophy that all three nations bring together to our military and to our military mission. And I look forward to building the momentum still further on AUKUS – Pete with you, and Richard with you, together in the months ahead. Thank you. 

ENDS