The Ministry of Defence has confirmed AUKUS is moving from review to delivery following talks at the Pentagon between UK Defence Secretary John Healey, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles. London describes the partnership as “full steam ahead”, reflecting Washington’s completed review and a shared push to translate plans into deployable capability across both submarine production and Pillar II technologies.
The UK cites £6 billion committed over the past 18 months to industrial upgrades in Barrow-in-Furness and Derby, aimed at establishing a steady build sequence for the SSN‑AUKUS class. Officials are working to reach a drumbeat of one new attack submarine every 18 months, a cadence the government links to supply‑chain predictability and skills retention.
Fleet planning has been reset accordingly. The Strategic Defence Review set an ambition to grow the attack boat inventory from seven Astute‑class submarines to as many as 12 SSN‑AUKUS boats from the late 2030s, with sustained production capacity central to that objective. Rolls‑Royce reactor work and associated yard expansions underpin the schedule.
The government ties the programme to regional growth. Ministers point to more than 3,000 new roles created across key nuclear sites since July 2024, a further 4,400 construction jobs forecast, and a wider Defence Nuclear Enterprise workforce requirement rising to about 65,000 by 2030. Average salaries in the defence nuclear industry are reported at £45,500-around 20% above the UK average.
Pillar II is the advanced‑capability track of AUKUS. It spans eight workstreams: undersea systems, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and autonomy, advanced cyber, hypersonic and counter‑hypersonic systems, electronic warfare, innovation, and information sharing. UK parliamentary analysis and US congressional briefings identify these as the agreed areas for trilateral development.
Delivery activity under Pillar II is already visible. Recent government and partner updates highlight trials of AI and autonomy in the UK, the Maritime “Big Play” experimentation series, and the HyFliTE arrangement to accelerate hypersonic testing. These are designed to shorten timelines from prototype to field use and to improve interoperability among the three forces.
For industry, the near‑term entry points include AUKUS‑branded innovation calls. The AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge 2025, led in the UK by the Defence and Security Accelerator, set out a 12‑month demonstration cycle targeting technology readiness at TRL6 and above, with final demonstrations aligned to multinational exercises.
The bilateral “Geelong Treaty” signed on 26 July 2025 between the UK and Australia provides long‑term legal and industrial scaffolding for submarine cooperation under Pillar I. The 50‑year agreement covers design, build, operation, sustainment and disposal for SSN‑AUKUS, and supports workforce, infrastructure and regulatory development in Australia.
Officials also clarified US titles used in today’s statements. The United States authorised the use of the “Department of War” and “Secretary of War” designations as secondary titles on 5 September 2025 via Executive Order 14347; statutory names remain unchanged pending any Act of Congress.
Risks to schedule are openly acknowledged in Washington’s review, which flags US submarine‑industrial capacity as a constraint even as partners commit to proceed. Australia has confirmed receipt of the findings, while US and UK officials assert that targeted investments and a phased approach can keep the programme on track.
On the UK side, the Royal Navy has begun to set out how uncrewed and autonomous systems will be blended with crewed vessels in a “hybrid” approach to undersea security, including the Atlantic Bastion initiative to protect subsea cables and pipelines. That concept dovetails with Pillar II work on autonomy and electronic warfare.
For policymakers and suppliers, the immediate consequence is a compressed window to align skills, facilities and export‑control compliance with the new build rhythm. With the production beat fixed at roughly 18 months and a larger end‑fleet in view, the test will be sustaining throughput-people, parts and certification-over decades rather than years.