AUKUS is faltering and plodding along and needs a Trumpian reboot says British defence committee chief

A top British MP has called for Donald Trump, Anthony Albanese and Keir Starmer to hold an AUKUS leaders’ summit, warning the program is “plodding along” and needs a high-profile rescue mission.

The call came ahead of the annual AUKMIN talks involving the UK and Australian foreign and defence ministers at Lancaster House in London on Wednesday.

UK Labour MP Tan Dhesi chairs the House of Commons Defence Committee, which spent a year investigating the progress of AUKUS.

The committee’s report found all three governments had taken their eyes off the ball with both the submarine program and the partnership’s aim of building new weapons capabilities.

AUKUS was first announced in 2021 by former president Joe Biden and former prime ministers Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson.

The program has subsequently been reviewed by all three countries following changes of government.

While the program for Australia to acquire at least three Virginia-class submarines from the US and brand new co-designed AUKUS submarines from the UK still has support, there has been little progress.

Ongoing concerns about production rates in the UK and US have fuelled speculation Australia might not receive any new boats in time.

Mr Dhesi’s bipartisan committee travelled to Australia, the United States and across the UK’s defence and shipbuilding sites, which said the program was faltering and had been captured by a culture of drift.

Speaking exclusively to the Latika Takes podcast, Mr Dhesi said the three leaders needed to back the project with a fresh vision as “things have moved on” since AUKUS was first announced.

“What I think also needs to be done is that we need all three leaders, again, in a showpiece event, just to focus hearts and minds to have that restatement, to recommit ourselves,” he said.

“That I think is important because then that increases the knowledge about AUKUS in the wider public in all three nations.

“The US administration has recommitted itself, I believe President Trump said ‘full steam ahead’ when he was with Prime Minister Albanese, the UK Prime Minister by the way has done likewise.”

Mr Dhesi said AUKUS needed visible leadership from “the very, very, very top level”.

“It needs to come from all three political leaders and look, what we need to do is need to mobilise the industrial base within all three nations because at present, everyone’s talking a good game but in terms of delivery, we’re plodding along, but we really should be racing along.”

He also called on Congress and Australia’s Parliament to hold similar inquiries into AUKUS as “that will help to further focus minds”.

He called for Australia and the US to also appoint dedicated AUKUS envoys or special representatives akin to the UK’s Stephen Lovegrove, who reports to Prime Minister Starmer.

The committee also backed an AUKUS visa, dismissing concerns that Australia would lure prized UK workers Down Under.

Australia has taken four years to announce a flagship program under the second plank of the AUKUS program and the Government is fending off an attack from Labor figures after it was revealed that Australia would receive three used boats from the US, instead of to two “in-service” boats and one new.

Mr Dhesi said the report found AUKUS faced challenges in all three jurisdictions, citing the US’s slow production rates of submarines and the UK’s lack of investment in shipbuilding yards.

“But it is without a shadow of a doubt that we still do not have enough dry dock facilities. That’s why half a billion pounds worth of submarine refurbishment works has been delayed,” he said.

Britain needed more investment in its naval bases, including in Barrow-in-Furness, “the home of British submarine ship building”, Mr Dhesi said.

“We’ve seen during our visit to the US . . . when we were out in Newport News and went out to JFC Norfolk, what we saw was that the Americans themselves are not meeting their targets of two subs, they’re currently, I believe, around 1.2 (boats per year) — that obviously is a cause of concern for them, as well as the wider AUKUS partnership,” he said.

“Things can be brought back online, but it just needs all three administrations working at pace.”

Mr Dhesi said the report never once questioned the rationale of AUKUS, which President Trump has said is about deterring Chinese President Xi Jinping from claiming Taiwan.

He said while the UK Navy was overstretched — as demonstrated when its one deployable submarine was visiting Perth — when HMAS Stirling began acting as a joint submarine base with the US from next year, it was important the British boats also showed up.

“Whether it’s about Taiwan, whether it’s about further afield, I mean the wider Indo-Pacific defence and security needs to be taken in the round,” he said.

“And that’s where I think it’s important that we have that visible presence from US subs, from British subs.

“In future, when we have SSN AUKUS I think it’s about subs being able to move around without being restricted to a particular area. And I think at this point in time, that presence is important.”

Jennifer Parker, Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia’s Defence and Security Institute welcomed the idea of a leader trilateral but does not consider it “essential”.

“There’s always value in senior political signalling to demonstrate strategic alignment, reassure partners and show momentum,” she said.

“AUKUS Pillar I remains on track, although there are challenges. The most significant is the capacity of the UK submarine industrial base and what that means for delivering SSN-AUKUS in the 2030s.”

Ms Parker said “another leaders’ meeting would not solve those challenges”.

“It requires the UK to invest significantly more in workforce, infrastructure and industrial capacity. If it doesn’t, phase three will face delays,” she said.

“This is ultimately a UK issue to resolve. Many current and former senior defence leaders have already warned that Britain is underinvesting in defence. More meetings won’t fix that.”

However, retired Royal Australian Navy rear admiral Peter Briggs, who backs the original French design, said nothing Mr Dhesi called for would make a difference.

“The phrase ‘putting lipstick on a pig’ comes to mind. Nothing he calls for is going to make a jot of difference! The realities of the US submarine building situation will not change prior to the decision-making point in 2031; the die is cast,” he said.

“The UK’s situation is far worse, a bankrupt defence vote and lots of higher priorities than SSN-AUKUS.”