Washington. September 16. INTERFAX-The creation of nuclear submarines for the Australian Navy will be the first initiative under the new AUKUS alliance, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
"The first major initiative of AUKUS will be the delivery of a nuclear submarine fleet for Australia. Over the next 18 months, we will work together to determine the best way to achieve this goal. We intend to build these submarines in Adelaide (Australia) in close cooperation with the United Kingdom and the United States," Morrison said during a joint presentation of the new alliance.
He stressed that Australia does not seek to acquire nuclear weapons or create a civilian nuclear capability.
In turn, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson clarified that "the submarines in question will be equipped with nuclear reactors, and not armed with nuclear weapons."
"And our work will fully comply with our non - proliferation obligations," he said.
