"Full Steam Ahead": US & Australia Double Down on AUKUS After Pentagon Review Sparks Fears | APT - video Dailymotion

APT

The United States and Australia have reaffirmed their commitment to the AUKUS security pact, declaring it “full steam ahead” after a Pentagon review of the Biden-era agreement raised concerns among allies.  In a high-level meeting in Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles emphasized that the trilateral partnership remains intact — including plans for nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines, expanded military cooperation, hypersonic missile programs, and new AI-driven defence technologies.  Hegseth praised Australia’s upcoming $1 billion investment to boost U.S. submarine production, while Marles said President Trump’s new motto for the alliance is clear: “Full steam ahead.”  The AUKUS pact, involving the U.S., Australia, and the UK, had faced uncertainty amid concerns that Trump could scale back the agreement. But leaders from both countries stressed that not only is the deal safe — it’s accelerating.  #AUKUS #USAustralia #IndoPacific #DefenseNews #MarcoRubio #PeteHegseth #RichardMarles #Submarines #NuclearSubmarines #Geopolitics #BreakingNews

Transcript

00:00One that I've done, as in my time here in the last year, obviously the same is true for

00:04Secretary Hexth, and I want to welcome both the foreign minister and the deputy prime minister

00:10for defense for both joining us here today. This is an incredibly strong alliance.

00:15In fact, as we were discussing a few moments ago, it is our only ally that has fought with us in

00:19every war over the last, certainly over the last four or five decades, and we're very grateful to

00:26them for that, and this is a very strong partnership. It's a strong alliance, and what we want to do is

00:30continue to build on it. We think we have a lot of momentum behind this alliance coming off the visit

00:36with the prime minister here in October, which we also had a chance to participate in and then

00:41follow up events to it, and we felt very strongly after that that we have real momentum. We wanted

00:45to do this here before the end of the year to continue to build on that alliance and to continue

00:50to build on that momentum that came from that meeting and to work together on our shared priorities,

00:55and we have so many. We truly have no better friend. In addition to that strong alliance,

00:59we're also deeply committed to the Quad, the concept of, in conjunction with Japan and India,

01:05the building out of this Quad, which is something you'll see. In fact, it was my first meeting

01:09as Secretary of State. I had been confirmed, sworn in downstairs, and came right up on that elevator

01:15and into this room, and it was in this very room that I did my first event as Secretary of State

01:20with the Quad, and we look forward to, I think we've had at least three meetings this year,

01:25if I recall correctly, and we'll continue to build on that in the year to come. We look to do more of

01:29those. And so we have a lot of things we've worked together on at the direction of the President.

01:37AUKUS is full steam ahead, as he said, and I know the Department of War, Secretary Hexeth will discuss

01:43that further, has conducted a review, which it's a review about how we can expand this relationship,

01:49about how to build on it, so that it can be about many things. And I know we've also signed a landmark

01:55critical mineral framework agreement. This is something we share in common, not just with

01:59Australia, but with many of our allies around the world, the desire to diversify supply chains,

02:05and the belief that in order for us to be able to do anything, whether it's defend our countries,

02:09defend our allies, or defend each other, but also to build our economies and to prosper as economies.

02:15We have to have critical mineral supplies and supply chains that are reliable and that are

02:21diverse, and not overly invested in one place where they can be used as leverage against us or

02:27our partners of the world. And so this is something that you'll find the U.S. and Australia working

02:31very closely on, and it's at the cornerstone of everything we plan to do together in the months

02:36and years to come. So I want to welcome you to Washington. Thank you for joining us and doing

02:40and agreeing to doing it here. At the end of this year, I know you have many other obligations and

02:45places. You're going to be traveling quite extensively in the days to come as well, so we're very grateful

02:49that you were willing to come here and join us, and we look forward to reciprocating in the new year

02:53by visiting you in Australia, as I look forward to. And it's one of my... I actually have never been,

03:00and I need to go. And it's a very efficient trip because I can say I went to a country and a continent

03:06all at once, and so very rarely can you say that. So thank you for joining us here today. We're

03:12grateful and honored by your presence. Thank you very much, Secretary Rubio. Can I thank you,

03:18UN Secretary Higgseth, for hosting us in this extraordinary room, as you said, where we've had

03:24our first Quad meeting after you were sworn in. We're really, Richard and I are so happy to be here,

03:31so honored to participate in another AusMind meeting, and to build on the very successful meeting

03:38between the President and the Prime Minister, and including the historic Critical Minerals deal

03:44that they delivered. AusMind was established, that is the meeting, this meeting was established under

03:51President Ronald Reagan, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke. And in 1985, President Reagan spoke of our

03:58common defense of freedom from the First and Second World Wars, and said, all this has nurtured

04:03the bonds of friendship between our two peoples. Today, the United States and Australia as much

04:09as ever rely on each other. That remains true today, and as Secretary Rubio said, Australian

04:16soldiers have fought beside American troops in every major battle since World War I, and we

04:21continue to rely on each other. Not just our service men and women, whom we thank for their

04:26service, but all our people. And that's because the work we do together is indispensable to a

04:31peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and this is something Secretary Rubio has spoken

04:37so eloquently about. The United States is our principal ally and our principal strategic partner,

04:45and together we navigate volatility, we invest in each other, we invest in the region's security,

04:51and we boost each other's prosperity, whether that's through investment in critical minerals,

04:56critical technology, Australian superannuation, or of course AUKUS. Australia's approach to the

05:02Alliance has always been to ensure, work to ensure it delivers concrete benefits for our

05:08security and prosperity, and for that of the United States. And AUKUS is central to that,

05:12a win for Australia, a win for the US, and a win for the United Kingdom. And we welcome President Trump's

05:18statement, we are full steam ahead. We are full steam ahead. So we look forward very much to

05:25these consultations today, very happy to be here in Washington. We'd also, Secretary Rubio,

05:30be very honored to welcome you to Australia when you are next, when you are able to come. So thank

05:35you again for hosting us. We look forward to the discussions.

05:38Secretary Rubio, thank you for hosting us. Deputy Prime Minister Marles, we've seen each other often,

05:47and we will continue to inform Minister Wong. Thank you for being here. It was mentioned,

05:52this is the 40th year of Ausma, 1985, and it's not lost on any of us the depth of the friendship our two countries

05:59have had, and our militaries have had for quite some time. And it was Ronald Reagan who, just like

06:04the Trump administration, put a practical application to that partnership 40 years ago by ensuring that

06:10our leaders are meeting together regularly to stay on track in rowing in the same direction,

06:16because we share the same values, the same neighborhood, both Pacific nations. And our leadership

06:23is coming together on a regular basis as a reflection of that. So on the defense side,

06:26we're working on force posture, we're working on defense industrial cooperation,

06:31first on force posture initiatives. We're upgrading infrastructure on air bases in Queensland

06:36and the Northern Territory that allows for additional U.S. bomber rotations. We're upgrading logistics

06:41and infrastructure in Darwin, so more U.S. Marines can do rotational deployments and pre-positioning

06:48MV-22 Ospreys. This establishes new and resilient logistics networks across Australia.

06:54We're deepening our cooperation on the defense industrial base, cooperation on guided weapons

06:59production and lethal capabilities, two-year roadmaps on Australia's guided weapons and explosive

07:04ordinance enterprise, groundbreaking cooperative actions on things like Gimler's guided missile

07:11launch rocket systems and precision strike missiles. And we're working toward co-production and

07:15co-sustainment of hypersonic attack cruise missiles, co-sustainment air-to-air missiles,

07:22cooperative programs across the board, including Mark 54 torpedoes. We're also building on the

07:28historic framework and critical minerals cooperation that's been mentioned already by President Trump

07:34and Prime Minister Albanese signed in October. Critical minerals and rare earths are a huge part

07:40of ensuring both countries can operate the way we need to in that region around the world. And finally,

07:45as we move, as was mentioned, full steam ahead on AUKUS, we applaud Australia's upcoming delivery of

07:51an additional $1 billion to help expand U.S. submarine production capacity. We're strengthening AUKUS so

07:58that it works for America, for Australia, and for the UK. There's a lot we're going to do together in the months

08:04ahead. This meeting will be, as was laid out by President Trump, as I mentioned at Reagan just a couple days ago,

08:11these are practical, realistic ways that our two countries can come together to ensure that we provide

08:17peace through strength for both of our nations. The stronger we are together, the more we can deter the kinds

08:23of conflicts neither of us want to see, and this is a deepening of that partnership. I'm grateful to be here.

"Full Steam Ahead": US & Australia Double Down on AUKUS After Pentagon Review Sparks Fears | APT

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