Australia has been negotiating to receive three secondhand Virginia-class nuclear submarines from the United States since late 2022 and expects the nuclear vessels to run for more than 25 years, the defence industry minister Pat Conroy says.
Dismissing criticism of the Aukus defence pact from Labor colleague Ed Husic as “disingenuous”, Conroy said the US military had wanted Australia to accept a combination of new and used submarines from early next decade, to suit domestic manufacturing capability.
