The United States has agreed to expand its military presence in Australia, the country will be provided with assistance in obtaining nuclear submarines from the American side. This was announced on Thursday, September 16, by the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin.
"Nuclear submarines will significantly increase both the defensive potential of the Australian Navy and their range of action," he said at a press conference in Washington.
According to Austin, such submarines will " strengthen the deterrent factor in the region."
On the eve of US President Joe Biden announced that Australia will equip its navy with American nuclear submarines, which Washington will build as part of the AUKUS defense project. Against the background of this event, Canberra broke the contract with Paris for the production of 12 Barracuda-class diesel-electric submarines.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called this decision of Australia a stab in the back. The minister stressed that he expects explanations from Australia, as well as the United States. At the same time, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that she was surprised by the outrage of Paris. She recalled that in 2015, Paris itself canceled the deal with Russia for two Mistral aircraft carriers.
Le Point columnist Jean Ginel wrote on September 16 that Paris did not foresee the failure of the contract for the production of submarines for Australia, and the loss of the contract was a humiliation for France. According to him, the total cost of the contract for five years reached €50 billion, and the tender was won by the French manufacturer from the German competitor ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).