In a nondescript office building in Canberra, hundreds of officials have spent months fine-tuning highly secretive plans for Australia to become just the seventh country in the world to have nuclear-powered submarines.
The clocks on the walls show three times – Canberra, London and Washington – reflecting the fact Australia is depending on the United Kingdom and the United States to achieve what V Adm Jonathan Mead calls “a generational challenge” that will “redefine Australia’s strategic personality”.
