A new Defence and Security Cooperation Agreement was signed at Parliament House, Canberra, by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles.
This agreement strengthens the partnership between the UK and Australia to meet the challenges of a more dangerous world.
“It includes an agreement which will make it easier for our Armed Forces to operate together in each other’s countries, as is currently happening through Operation Interflex – the joint training of Ukrainian troops in the UK. It will also help facilitate UK submarine crews visiting Australia as part of the AUKUS partnership.”
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said:
“The UK and Australia fought side by side 80 years ago against tyranny on the beaches of Normandy. Today our two great nations continue to stand together to secure peace and prosperity the world over.
We’re facing the challenges of a more dangerous world together, and through partnerships like this agreement, AUKUS, and our continued support to Ukraine, we’re defending our freedoms and shared values.”
Australia Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said:
“Australia’s relationship with the UK is dynamic and enduring. From the UK’s leadership of support for Ukraine and efforts to address the Houthi threat, to increasing contributions in the Pacific and the Indo-Pacific, we continue to work closely together to support a global rules-based order.
As the world becomes more complex and uncertain, we must modernise our most important partnerships.
The agreements we reached today will secure this outcome into the future.”
The agreement also formalises the already established practice of our nations consulting each other on issues that affect sovereignty and regional security.
The new agreement was signed after the Defence Ministers met for annual talks in Australia, ahead of wider meetings together with Foreign Ministers in Adelaide, known as AUKMIN.
Wow! Another agreement.
“To ask Mr Shapps; when do we get the money to actually carry out the Work?”
And this hot off the press announcement may just answer your query. I will post a link separately but that tends to get sent up to Teacher to review.
http://www.rolls-Royce.com
And select media then read the article about lots of lovely Aussie money 😉
Do people still believe that AUKUS will ever see the light of day?
It’s already underway is it not?
Through numerous R&D fields, and infrastructure being built.
Yep already underway. Plenty of material to confirm this. Obviously not much in mainstream media to cover such an issue, only if was a failure they would!
Cheers
George
Spot on George, look beyond the MSM
Yep it most certainly is proceeding, RR on Raynesway is busy doubling in size and capacity. Its all being done “at pace” and the extra land needed was suddenly just “acquired”, it was being developed for Retail Warehousing by St Modwen. Then they stopped half way through the development, high security fencing went up to secure it and 40 heavy pile drivers all started work. FYI All of the extra land belongs to another 100% Government owned entity called Network Rail 😉 and a new road bridge over the Derby / Nottingham mainline is going in to join it all… Read more »
Ah, yes, I might have heard of them. 😆
Didn’t know those details, thanks mate.
Sadly, I cannot get free travel up there or anywhere else unless it’s on my “route” so I can only use SWR trains.
And even that was only grudgingly agreed several years back. I’m post BR you see, us untermench don’t get nationwide free travel. The union posted a company response once saying us Signalers “were not railmen” I kid you not.
Utter cobblers.
You’re on SWR?
Where, I go into Guildford by SWR every day.
I’m in a signal box South of Guildford!
From Woking end or south of? If South of, I signal your train occasionally, unless your coming in from Wanborough.
No, I come in from the Esher end, through London Road
Ah ok, that’s Guildford ASCs patch. I live in Guildford where are you working?
I live outside and take the train into Guildford each day
Oh that’s not good, my wife got it last year as part of her pay deal and she’s been with them for only 17 years. It isn’t free but we only pay 25% so use it a lot for Days or Weekends away. Her boss is old school and his is free and on the continent. As for the land deal it was odd, the ground work was in progress 6 months before anyone had heard of AUKUS. The original plan was for a 50% increase on the existing site (right up to the railway), that has been going on… Read more »
in the UK perhaps, in the US a lot of congressional pushback and Trump not looking the project with a keen eye, it will never take off , it’s a guarantee, and if it will, it will become a money sinkhole that will make the HS2 debacle pale in comparison
Should he become president, he’ll change his opinion on that when he realises that the Australian money is providing capacity in the US submarine manufacturing sector to allow the USN to get what they’re after. They’re in almost as sorry a state as us otherwise…
Actually they are much worse off than us, which is why there has been zero comeback from the Republicans about it. To achieve the their SSN Battle force by 2040 they need to replace every old Los Angeles boat and some more on top. To do that they need a minimum Drum beat of 2 SSN pa, plus they have to replace the even older Ohios with 12 new SSBNs. In addition the USN refit, refuel and scheduled maintenance system has a 17 year backlog of work. The peace dividend ripped the guts out of the builders and US supply… Read more »
I think you’re under the influence. EB and NN build more per annum each than Barrow builds in 3 years. They literally flew over and fixed Barrow because it was so messed up it couldn’t build a single boat.
I knew they had problems- didn’t realise they were that bad to be honest!
I felt that the AUKUS deal was exactly what both the USN and RN needed, just that extra shot in the arm to get the industry really rolling. But sounds like it’s more like getting the US off life support.
My understanding, though, is that we still rely on the US for reactor tech? Even if we’re in a better place in terms of construction.
Go onto http://www.rolls-royce.com
Select media and read the lunchtime press release. The timing is spooky but the actual funding has been flowing for quite some time.
Morning mate. Not a site I’d perused before, v interesting indeed!
AUKUS has already seen the light of day, go to barrow and see the massive facility increases. Australia is already pumping money into UK and US submarine industrial base.
The wheels are very much in motion.
This is good as it guarantees decades of genuinely high skill high tech jobs that do advance the UK IP and tech base.
As well as guaranteeing that RN have a new fleet of SSN and sharing the massive R&D costs.
It’s not just the R&D costs but the production costs through the entire supply chain. Part of that is due to the economies of scale you get from building all or the most expensive parts of 16/20 SSNs rather than just 7. But as every part of production is being modernised with new and more efficient equipment and operating systems that adds to reduced unit costs. Which is why we may just see the RN being able to uplift to 10 SSN(A) from 2035 onwards. The big question will be to see if we move away from building most of… Read more »
Yes, do we keep investing in Ultra Electronics now it is US owned?
Well given the £billions being spent on R&D, upgrading existing / new Infrastructure, new plant / machinery, recruiting / training 000’s of extra bods in the UK it will look a bit silly if it doesn’t 🤔 BAe Barrow, RR here in Derby, SFM Sheffield, Babcock at Guz and Rosyth all receiving a level of investment not seen since the rearming triggered by the Korean War. Some of it is needed to support the existing U.K and future boats but the capacity is above that required just for that. The money is already being spent and despite what the present… Read more »
Well yes actually…. and It appears they have just committed another £2.6 Billion to help RR get over their backlog for NC’s
“On the beaches of Normandy”
He could have used better examples, like the desert war and into Italy.
Since when were Australian units on the beaches of Normandy??? Never heard of any beyond Australian RAF units.
Daniele, Not Italy, the Australian government removed all Australian ground forces from North Africa in 1942, due to the threat of Japanese invasion of Australia.
The New Zealand ground forces remained in North Africa to take part in the Italian Campaign.
Morning mate. Thanks for the correction.
Go back to WW1 when Sir John Monash led the Australian Corps on The Western Front – Monty said he was the best General in WW1. They halted the German 1918 Spring Offensive at its last surge. In Palestine the Australian Light Horse with British troops captured Beer Sheva at the last gasp on 31st October 1917.
While all that is true, it has nothing to do with the article. Shapps was mistakenly referring to Normandy in WW2. Australia removed all three of its divisions from North Africa & most of its navy, from late 1942 to early 1943 (in order to fight in the Pacific theatre), hence there were in fact, no major Australian army formations at Normandy. There was a considerable RAAF contingent in UK throughout WW2. Australian involvement in the Normandy invasion did exist, but most of it was RAAF & Australians serving in RAF squadrons.
Yes… and their Navy.
What nonsense, no Australian units were at Normandy, this is an absolute insult to the brave men from Canada, uk, USA, Poland and France who did fight at Normandy as well as an insult to the brave Australian’s fighting in the pacific in 1944. Grant Shapps is a national embarrassment, a statement like that from the defence secretary is grounds for resignation.
Well it depends how you put it there were a large number of Australian airmen involved in the Normandy landings including those in British squadrons and specific RAAF squadrons…there were also around 500 Australian seamen..boots on the ground was only a small number of Australian officers…but to say there were no Australian units involved in the fighting at Normandy is not correct…no Australian ground formations were involved in the invasion is a more correct statement.
Exactly. Which was the thrust of my complaint and storming beaches. On Landing Craft quite likely but no combat formations came ashore that I’m aware of at Gold, Juno, or Sword.
I thought Ministers speeches were checked!!!?
Exactly, I’m sure they have given up checking minister speeches in this government, be like handing out speeding tickets at Silverstone 😀
😂😂😂
I don’t think they bother anymore, apart from making sure they don’t go against the party line…( and with this lot not even that) we live in a post truth world, sound bites are more important than accuracy.
Mr Green doesn’t do facts?
He doesn’t, Shapps should. 😆
It’s definitely a mistake. Personally, I would have referenced the North African campaign. But perhaps, just perhaps, somebody thought that was no-go because of the great political dissatisfaction in UK-Aus relationships associated with that campaign. So one has to make do with what’s left.
I guess it’s possible, but all so ridiculous in my view. It’s history, it happened, Aus units were invaluable.
Morning M8, I trust you are hale and hearty 😉 He has a habit of tripping over his Tongue, but then again he is a Politician and he did avoid using the “World beating” cliche.
I was very dubious about him when he was appointed but he is actually doing some positive things and perhaps he has more Political skills behind the scenes than BW.
I was impressed with the Chinook decision, but I just wonder where he got the funds from ?
Morning matey!
Beaches was the term he used, airmen and sailors were not on beaches (bar a few) it clearly a mistake and it’s inexcusable from the SSD.
Unfortunately I would suggest it’s not a mistake…after all you have to do something you consider wrong for it to be a mistake, the present set of ministers just say what they want and what they think makes a good sound bite..accuracy and truth are optional…just look at the amphibious vessels…they clearly lied earlier in the year…but in the post truth world you are allowed to get away with saying something while knowing that someone is taking away a meaning from what you have said when you don’t actually mean that.
France, France ! Oh yes the much lauded boast of De Gaul was that France was liberated by Frenchmen ! On D Day just 177 were actually involved.
Australia land forces weren’t involved but they were rather busy elsewhere.
The first Allied troops into occupied France (5th June) was a Squadron of French SAS who parachuted into Brittany to liaise with the resistance to disrupt German troops moving into Normandy from Brittany..
Yup…. and the Resistance, they played a huge part and paid a huge price. Easily overlooked on this thread it seems.😰
French SAS, and other SAS too. I’d include the poor sods sitting in that midgit sub even if they didn’t actually land.
The main French contribution was through the Resistance. “Good Moaning.”
Yes I know, but as we are talking about the Beaches on D Day in Normandy as per our illustrious Ministers FUBA. That’s what I’m commenting on.
The French were far more involved with Operation Dragoon in the South. To be fair that was probably the French Army’s biggest contribution to ending the war as it opened up the South of France and 2 complete major ports.
But that isn’t what we are talking about today.
FYI My late Uncle was a member of 5th (Scottish) Parachute Battalion and was dropped in for Operation Dragoon.
You’ve been reading your book again
..
Did he mean Gallipoli ?…. I don’t think any Aussie units were on the beaches of Normandy… a few ships and aircrew were though.
Maybe he and whoever plan his speeches are capable of confusing the two? 😆
Maybe the thought the 177 French troops who took part were Australians, it’s an easy mistake after all 🥴
That’s worse….. the French made huge sacrifices to enable the D Day invasion to go ahead and continue to do so……. ( god, I’m going to get another lecture now, aren’t I ? 😎)
We didn’t tell them where though, and quite rightly.
“Fill my heart with a monotonous Languor”….. It told them to start.
Yep. Classic film! Awfully sorry old man….simply landed here by accident.
Well, I guess he’ll be gone soon…. replaced by some other Ejit…. It’s worserer in the US though…. They all believe they won the war on their own….
If you look at how much material the US sent the Soviet Union… It’s insane. No way the germans lose the eastern front if that were not the case.
Russian Tank production probably helped too…. The UK also provided masses of equipment and the arctic convoys to deliver much of it.
The problem here is the RN submarine service once great and best in the world is in such a poor state now, you only need to look at April 2024’s Warship Magazine – A perfect storm. Funding and infrastructure need address to get boats built and manned for operations not rely on long patrol cycles followed by even longer periods broke alongside. Read the article Pages 12 -13. Once we put our own house in order we may be able to assist, advise and train the Australian Navy?
“A new Defence and Security Cooperation Agreement was signed at Parliament House, Canberra, by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles.”
Why? We are 9,500 miles from Australia. Other than the squandering of money on a nuclear ‘delivery system’, what possible use would one be to the other, in the event of a war, or something else going fubar?
80 years ago? Normandy?
Perhaps the Russians managed to scramble more than just his GPS the other day!
Why mention WW2 an event that happened 80 years ago, I love my history & am very proud of what the UK & our allies achieved but for many people it was something their great grandparents were involved in.
Why would anyone actually listen to Snapps, a career politician who like his colleagues has no interest in defence matters hence the current state of the UK military.