Five years on: where could opportunities emerge next for AUKUS Pillar II?
The Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarine HMS Anson during a maintenance period in Western Australia. (Photo: LSIS Shaun Chatfield)
Payload commonality, combat systems and electronic warfare are emerging as likely priorities as the trilateral partnership balances building submarines with sharing industrial ecosystems.
The first AUKUS Pillar II “signature project” has been defined, funded and given a delivery date. What the governments of Australia, the UK and the US have not yet said publicly is what follows it.
Announced earlier this year, the joint programme will develop payloads and enabling systems for uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), with national systems slated for delivery from 2027.
Five years after the trinational partnership was formed, the question for defence companies is where that model is applied next, and the clues are already visible in strategy documents and think tank analysis.
A pillar of promise, not yet
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