Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves Transfer of Nuclear Submarines to Australia

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has started the process of attaining U.S. congressional approval for the United States to temporarily give Australia two nuclear-powered submarines, alongside other measures to deepen defense sharing with members of the pro-liberty AUKUS defense alliance.
In a bipartisan move on July 13, the committee authorized the transfer of two used Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the United States’ own fleet to Australia and training for Australians on developing “their own Australian submarine industrial base.” It also approves the sale of a third unspecified submarine to Australia. Currently, a new Virginia-class sub costs around $4.3 billion to build….}