Friends of Australia Caucus Celebrates Five Years of the AUKUS Security Agreement

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Co-Chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Friends of Australia Caucus Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT), Ranking Member of the House Seapower Subcommittee, and Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Chair Emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, celebrated the five-year anniversary of the AUKUS security agreement. 

“Five years after its announcement, AUKUS remains the most important security alliance that the U.S. has entered into in decades,” the Members said. “This historic partnership with our two closest and longest-time allies comes at a time when the prospect of a free and open Pacific that benefits all nations is under dire threat. AUKUS provides the capability to counter that deteriorating trend, so as to uphold the international rule of law and freedom of navigation. AUKUS’ ambitious enterprise is unfolding in real-time with robust joint U.S.-Australia submariner training and crewing of Virginia-class submarines, a license free defense technology export system between all three countries, flourishing academic partnerships between our universities, and U.S. Navy-awarded contracts to the U.S. submarine industrial base in support of AUKUS. This work, a result of Congress acting in a swift and bipartisan fashion to pass AUKUS legislation, leads the way for landmark security milestones in the coming decade. With the 2027 launch of Submarine Rotational Force-West, deepened advanced defense capabilities and unmanned systems collaboration, the first-time sale of U.S. Virginia-class submarines to Australia, and the stand-up of the SSN-AUKUS program for our two partners, once-in-a-lifetime security enhancements for all three nations are just over the horizon."

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