AUKUS Defense Minister's Communique

AUKUS Defense ministers met in London Thursday to review the partnership and "reiterate their shared commitments for the decades to come," according to a readout of the conference.  

Pillar I – Conventionally Armed, Nuclear-Powered Submarines (SSNs)

1. They undertook to continue AUKUS partners' open, and transparent engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and noted the ongoing bilateral negotiations on Australia's Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.
2. Training of Royal Australian Navy officers and sailors continued in the US and the UK, while the first 40 ASC Pty Ltd personnell deployed to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.  Additional collaboration is furnished by BAE Systems.
3. The Australian Governemnt committed nearly AUD 250 million to provide university training and scholarships in STEP fields and postgraduate nuclear studies at home and abroad, as well as a "Jobs for Subs" initiative.
4. The defense chiefs "welcomed the AUKUS partners' commitment to accelerate opportunities for Australian industry in the Virginia class submarine supply chain, including through the Defence Industry Vendor Qualification Program and other industry collaboration initiatives," 
5. As a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Australia has re-affirmed unequivocally that it does not have, and will not seek to acquire, nuclear weapons.

Pillar II – Advanced Capabilities

AUKUS Pillar II, involves the three parties "working across the full spectrum of capability development—generating requirements, co-developing new systems, deepening industrial base collaboration, and bolstering our innovation ecosystems," including

1. The Maritime Big Play Initiative, a series of integrated trilateral experiments and exercisesfielding autonomous uncrewed systems in the maritime domain.
2. Advances in torpedo technology, accelerated development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies, and the deployment of common advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms on patrol aircraft and in target fixing applications.
3. The International Joint Requirements Oversight Council (I-JROC) identified joint and combined development priorities  in long-range strike and missile defense capabilities, commmand and control and logistics.
4. Stakeholder engagement includes the Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum, meetings in each country with technology and policy experts.
5. "The National Armaments Directors from each nation are identifying opportunities to harmonise acquisition processes and reducing barriers to facilitate the accelerated delivery of Pillar II advanced capabilities."

Other States' Collaboration

"The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister welcomed progress on consultations with Japan on improving interoperability with Japan's maritime autonomous systems as an initial area of cooperation. The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister noted ongoing consultations with Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea to identify possibilities for collaboration on advanced capabilities under AUKUS Pillar II on a project by project basis."

Defence trade and industrial base collaboration

To promote innovation and realise the goals of AUKUS, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States implemented momentous amendments to our respective export control regimes.

These historic efforts will maximise secure, licence-free defence trade and stimulate innovation across the full breadth of our defence collaboration, mutually strengthening our three defence industrial bases, while maintaining rigour and security in all three systems.

The Secretaries and Deputy Prime Minister reaffirmed support to reduce bureaucratic barriers to collaboration to enable deeper defence industrial base cooperation.

[The above is edited for brevity and clarity.  The complete text can be found here]