Letter

In response to Kim Beazley bombs out

Can Barrow make AUKUS-SSN as well?

Paddy Gourley mentions again the cost of the USUKA (Aukus) subs. According to Sky yesterday, reporting on Keir Starmer’s visit to the UK’s nuclear sub factory at Barrow, “the visit highlighted ongoing challenges facing the UK’s aging nuclear submarine fleet, which has been forced to extend its typical three-month patrols to much longer durations due to maintenance delays and the postponed delivery of replacement vessels. The current fleet has now exceeded its intended 25-year service life.”

So where, when and how does the AUKUS-SSN work fit in? Or are we going to give Britain too a three quarters of a billion-dollar helping hand for infrastructure?

— Geoff Taylor from Perth