‘Trends are worrying': Incoming US naval boss sounds AUKUS warning
Meanwhile, this masthead can confirm Australia's second $800 million payment to help the US build nuclear-powered submarines was made in June, when the Australian government was already aware of the Pentagon's review of AUKUS.
Admiral Daryl Caudle, President Donald Trump's nominee as chief of navy operations, told his confirmation hearing it was not yet certain the US defence industrial base was capable of producing enough Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to sell three to Australia.
'As you know, the delivery pace is not where it needs to be to make good on Pillar 1 of the AUKUS agreement, which is currently under review by our defence department,' he said last week.
'I think rightly so. We do have to understand whether the industrial base can produce the submarines required so that we can make good on the actual pact that we've made with the UK and Australia.'
Across the two US shipyards that build the submarines, the current delivery rate is about 1.2 boats a year, but needs to reach 2.2 to 2.3 a year.
'That's going to require a transformational improvement. Not a 10 per cent improvement, not a 20 per cent improvement – a 100 per cent improvement,' Caudle told the hearing.
'We need a transformational improvement and the ability to deliver twice the capacity that we're currently delivering.'
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