Australia Invests $2.8 Billion to Build Nuclear Submarine Facility

Australia announced today, Sunday, the allocation of 3.9 billion Australian dollars (approximately 2.8 billion US dollars) as an initial payment to create a new facility for building nuclear submarines, in a move aimed at enhancing its defense capabilities.

The total spending on the project is expected to reach around 30 billion Australian dollars in the long term.

This step comes as part of the AUKUS security agreement that Canberra signed with the United States and the United Kingdom in 2021, to counter China's growing military influence in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, an agreement that has drawn criticism from Beijing.