Many lunches and dinners around the globe were needed to seal the submarine deal between Australia, the US and the UK.
Australia’s Nuclear Powered Submarine Taskforce leader Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, also a model boat builder and board member of the Australian National Maritime Museum, built a miniature version of a nuclear-powered submarine and presented it for inspection by the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program head, Admiral Frank Caldwell.
As one senior US official said, “that spirit of having honest discussions was an incredibly helpful atmosphere to be tackling such a big issue. I was struck by how frank, transparent and ultimately collaborative the conversations were, consistently.”own up to five nuclear-powered Virginia class submarines starting in the early 2030s
The capability propels Australia ahead of other military powers and enables far greater security in the Indo-Pacific, especially around shipping lanes that are increasingly feeling the presence of China’s assertiveness.a particular meeting at the Pentagon in the past 18 months stood out. The AUKUS deal started in April 2021 when Andrew Shearer, the director-general of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, pitched the idea to the Biden administration’s Asia Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell at a breakfast in the Hay-Adams hotel overlooking the White House.
Inevitably, with so many meetings and so many personnel, there was plenty more breaking of bread between the Americans and Australians.“I’ve known Andrew for a long time and I think my favourite dining experience was after one of the joint steering group meetings. We had dinner at a beautiful restaurant, overlooking Circular Quay which usually has a beautiful view. Except there was a cruise ship docked there that night. So all we could see was the side.
There was never a code name for the whole AUKUS operation like many global investment banking deals usually have. “We probably should have had one,” a US official says.
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