Australia announced on Wednesday that it will invest billions of dollar over the next 20 years to expand a Western Australia shipyard, which would be the maintenance hub for the nuclear-powered AUKUS sub fleet.

Defence Minister Richard Marles announced in a press release that the government would invest A$127m ($85m) over three-years to upgrade facilities at Henderson Shipyard near Perth.

Marles stated that the Defence Precinct in Henderson would optimise Australia's shipbuilding industry and support continuous naval shipbuilding throughout Western Australia as well as Australia's nuclear powered submarine pathway.

He said that the facility would also be used to build new landing craft and general-purpose frigates, for both the Australian Army and Navy.

Marles stated that the shipyard will "underpin tens billions of dollars in investment in defence capability" over 20 years, and create around 10,000 local jobs.

AUKUS is a defence pact between Australia, Britain, and the U.S. signed in 2021. Australia will buy five nuclear-powered subs from Washington by the early 2030s, before building and operating the SSN-AUKUS class with Britain a decade or so later.

AUKUS is the first time Washington shares nuclear-propulsion technologies with Britain since the 1950s, though the submarines will not be nuclear-armed. According to estimates by the Australian government, this deal will cost Australia as much as A$368 Billion ($245,8 Billion) in 2055.

(source: Reuters)