US Navy Secretary John Phelan sensationally fired, Richard Marles insists sacking won’t rattle AUKUS

A top Pentagon official overseeing the AUKUS project has been fired by the Trump administration, but Australia’s Defence Minister insists the $368 billion bid to acquire nuclear-powered submarines remains “on track”.

US Navy Secretary John Phelan, who joined President Donald Trump for his White House meeting with Anthony Albanese last year, is leaving his senior position “effective immediately” despite the ongoing war against Iran.

No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the US Navy’s top civilian official, which was announced as the nation imposes a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to the Islamic regime around the world.

Secretary Phelan’s sudden departure comes just a day after he addressed a large crowd of personnel and industry professionals at the navy’s annual conference in Washington DC and outlined his agenda to reporters.

Phelan’s departure also comes just weeks after US Secretary for War Pete Hegseth fired the army’s top officer, General Randy George, who has also fired several top generals, admirals and other military leaders since taking office last year.

The US Navy’s undersecretary Hung Cao, another Trump loyalist and a 25-year navy combat veteran who failed in a bid to be elected to the US Senate in Virginia, has assumed the role of acting secretary.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately”, with reports in the US suggesting he was fired after an increasingly rocky relationship with Secretary Hegseth and other senior figures.

In February last year, Secretary Hegseth removed Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the navy’s top uniformed officer, and General Jim Slife, the No. 2 leader at the Air Force, while President Trump also fired General Charles “CQ” Brown Junior as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Asked about the unexpected departure of Secretary Phelan on Thursday, Defence Minister Richard Marles said it was a “matter for the United States” but insisted the ambitious AUKUS project remained on track.

“AUKUS is going ahead on time, on schedule, at a pace and that’s because there is a fundamental commitment across the three governments, the United States, the United Kingdom and here,” Mr Marles said.

“AUKUS is a multi-decade program. There will be people that will come and go along the journey, but it is bigger than all of us.

“There have been changes in governments in all three countries from the time that AUKUS was announced, so none of that will have an impact on AUKUS.”

During last year’s meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Secretary Phelan was one of half a dozen senior US officials to join the White House talks.

Sitting alongside President Trump, the Secretary Phelan said that domestic submarine production in the United States was “getting better” but hinted at ambiguities in the AUKUS deal that needed be sorted out.

“What we’re really trying to do is take the original AUKUS framework and improve it for all three parties, make it better and clarify some of the ambiguity that was in the prior agreement. So, it should be a win-win for everybody,” he said in October.

He also described infrastructure being built for Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-W) in Western Australia as “critical” noting it would be “very important to our ability to project power in the Indo-Pacific and work with our allies”.

Phelan had never served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the navy before Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024 but was seen as an outsider being brought in to shake up the service.

He had also been a major donor to Trump’s campaign and had founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC.