Pentagon’s AUKUS review should spark strategic reckoning in Canberra

In a new piece for The Australian, Security & Defence PLuS Executive Director Dr Ian Langford argues the Pentagon’s review of the AUKUS submarine deal should spark a “strategic reckoning” in Canberra. While framed as routine, the review signals shifting US priorities and raises the risk that Australia could be left “dangerously exposed” as its current submarine fleet ages and locally built nuclear vessels remain years away. Langford writes:

“If AUKUS falters, the worst outcome would not be the loss of submarines. It would instead result in strategic paralysis in Canberra.”

He calls for urgent investment in “fight tonight” capabilities, including long-range strike systems and multi-layered air and missile defence, to prepare for a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific within the next two to five years. The message is clear:

“Alliances are not guarantees. They are instruments, shaped by politics and underpinned by power.” For Australia, he argues, the test now is whether it can “invest not just in platforms for the 2040s, but in the capabilities needed to deter, fight and win in the 2020s.”

Read the full piece on The Australian: Pentagon’s AUKUS review should spark strategic reckoning in Canberra