AUKUS, the defence agreement between Australia, UK and US continues to make advancements in accordance with its pillars, signifying its presence is here to stay.
Designed to deter the growing influence of China in the South east region, AUKUS is predicated upon the development of nuclear powered submarines (Pillar one) and critical technologies such as AI, Quantum computing and hypersonic (Pillar two). With regard to Pillar one, Australian plans to make $3bn AUKUS investment in the US over the next 5 years to help fund the expansion of nuclear powered submarines built. Furthermore, advancements are underway with AI and autonomy companies within the allied nations developing tools and gathering vast reserves of data. One implication of this is an expectation of legislative and policy changes that creates more accessibility for sharing technology innovations between the allies. Evidently, one Australian drone-builder company SYPAQ is already reaping benefits as it engages talks about doing business with the government.
Thus, despite rumours of a comeback for Trump in 2024, who tends to promote unilateralism, AUKUS is expected to survive for political reasons. This is further reinforced by support from nations such as Japan, Singapore and South Korea who welcome the pact as a counterweight to China.
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