World

Washington [US], May 30: The latest US congressional report shows that the country is cooling off in selling Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) to Australia.
According to news.com.au, the US is tailoring its submarines to suit its own specific needs, not Australia's. This information comes after the Congressional Research Service recently released a report on the Navy's procurement of Virginia-class SSNs. The report highlighted questions that remain unresolved by the US, highlighting whether the US can meet its and Australia's submarine needs, as well as the risks of providing Canberra with this technology.
The US is worried about its forces decreasing
The report states that the sale of 3-5 Virginia-class SSNs to Australia will reduce the size of the US Navy 's submarines . The current number of 49 aircraft will drop to 46 by 2028. Meanwhile, existing production programs only raise this number to 60 by 2052, still not helping the US achieve its goal of maintaining a minimum of 66 SSNs. , according to news.com.au.
As a result, there were doubts that the deal would undermine the US's ability to deal with China. The report found that the US also expressed concern that it would "totally lose" the submarines shipped to Australia if Canberra did not support the US in potential conflicts. This speculation comes after Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles said in March that the country "absolutely failed" to promise to support the US, when asked about Taiwan.
In addition, analysts also warn that the conflict in Ukraine could cause Russia to exchange a lot of military technology, especially in the field of submarines, with China, and pose a bigger challenge for the US. Although this can be solved by increasing the number of submarines produced each year. However, the report says no additional orders have been fulfilled yet. The US has only 2 shipyards capable of building SSN. Many problems arise for Australia
One problem facing Australia is finance. It is expected that the country will have to spend more money to buy the Virginia-class SSN from the US, as Washington is aiming to produce a larger version of the submarine. While this ensures submarines can carry more Tomahawk cruise missiles or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), it also increases their cost.
Australia can offset these costs by leasing more bases to the US and UK. However, the US Navy has just proposed another improvement to the Virginia-class SSN, which optimizes undersea sabotage operations for infrastructure such as submarine cables, and reduces the attack-weak role. element that Australia wants.
In addition, Australia itself is having a manpower problem. According to The Strategist magazine, unless Australia can develop a highly qualified specialist force, it will be difficult for the country to achieve the advanced defense capabilities outlined in the AUKUS treaty agreement (US-UK-Australia) . . Accordingly, in order to support AUKUS and maintain its strength in advanced technology, Australia needs to encourage and retain talent amid the ongoing global thirst for human resources.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper