US prepares to increase submarine presence off Australia's strategic coast

Inside the control room of the USS Minnesota submarine off the coast of Western Australia, sonar operators make the necessary adjustments to a new maritime environment where the US submarine presence will soon increase significantly.

The Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Minnesota off the coast of Western Australia on March 16.

During the exercise, which departed from its home port in Guam, the USS Minnesota was the first of four Virginia-class fast-attack submarines to arrive at a naval base in Western Australia under the AUKUS (Australia-United States-UK Security Partnership) partnership program, Reuters reported on March 16.

Some 50 to 80 US Navy personnel will arrive in the middle of this year at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, where an $8 billion (over $5 billion) upgrade is underway to prepare for the “Western Submarine Rotation Force,” according to Australian officials.

Over the next two years, the US workforce will increase to hundreds of people, including support staff.

The location of the HMAS Stirling naval base, closer to Asia and the Indian Ocean than the US Pacific Fleet headquarters in Hawaii, plays an important role in terms of strategy for the US, Reuters quoted an analysis by Mr. Peter Dean, Director of Foreign Policy and Defense of the US Studies Center at the University of Sydney (Australia).

“It is important to ensure defense in the Indian Ocean in the face of China's growing capabilities and power in the region,” said Mr. Dean.

The submarine USS Minnesota surfaced off the coast of Western Australia on March 16.

The Virginia submarine program is not among the budget cuts under the Trump administration's Pentagon overhaul, which reduces the focus on the Middle East and Europe and prioritizes the Indo- Pacific .

US Deputy Defense Secretary Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s No. 3, told a Senate committee in March that attack submarines were “absolutely necessary” to defend Taiwan, so the pace of production must be ramped up to first meet US needs and then fulfill the submarine sale commitment to Australia under AUKUS.

The USS Minnesota submarine was transferred from its home port in Hawaii to Guam, which is closer to Taiwan, last November.

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Under the AUKUS agreement, the Australian government will purchase two used Virginia-class submarines over the next decade, and work with the UK to build a new class of nuclear submarines.

In preparation, 115 Australians are participating in nuclear training in the US Navy, or on board the Virginia submarine, plus 130 are training to maintain nuclear submarines at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, according to US naval officials.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/my-chuan-bi-tang-hien-dien-tau-ngam-ngoai-bo-bien-chien-luoc-uc-185250317084148976.htm