[Regnum] The United Kingdom has confirmed its full commitment to the AUKUS partnership by allocating six billion pounds to develop nuclear submarine construction infrastructure. This was announced by the UK government press service on Wednesday, December 10.
"We're moving full steam ahead towards AUKUS. Our reviews are complete. Now we get down to business... AUKUS is too significant a project, and the stakes are too high, to be allowed to progress unchecked," the press service quoted British Defence Secretary John Healey as saying.
At a meeting at the Pentagon with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, the parties agreed to shift the focus from planning to practical implementation of the agreement. Under AUKUS, the UK intends to build up to 12 state-of-the-art SSN-AUKUS-class nuclear attack submarines, creating over 20,000 jobs at peak production. A six-billion-pound investment is being directed toward modernizing critical infrastructure in Barrow and Derby, enabling the production of one new submarine every 18 months. By 2030, the UK's defense nuclear sector is projected to support approximately 65,000 jobs.
On December 8, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, First Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, stated that the UK was close to losing its dominance in the Atlantic due to Russia's rise. He emphasized that Russia was investing billions in developing its naval capabilities, particularly its Northern Fleet. Jenkins called on the UK to act more proactively, lest it lose its strategic advantage in the Atlantic, which is unacceptable.
Earlier, experts from the IMEMO RAS stated that Russia had entered the top three global leaders in naval power. The experts compiled a ranking of 10 countries whose potential, or naval power index, accounted for 58% of the global total. The remaining 42% was distributed among the remaining 90 countries.