By Xinghui Kok
SINGAPORE, May 30 (Reuters) - The United States, Britain and Australia are working together to develop unmanned undersea vehicles as part of their trilateral AUKUS defence pact, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters on Saturday.
AUKUS said in a joint statement that delivery of the vehicles will start in 2027.
The programme will improve the three nations' reconnaissance and strike capabilities, "and bolster superiority in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, and contested littoral manoeuvre," the statement added.The programme comes under AUKUS's so-called "Pillar Two" to develop advanced defence technology including quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology.
"The signature project will deliver a suite of highly adaptable multi-mission UUV payloads designed to support undersea operations and maintain our collective advantage in the maritime domain," Hegseth said.
Formed by the three countries in 2021, AUKUS is part of their efforts to push back against China's growing power in the Indo-Pacific region.
China has called the AUKUS pact dangerous and warned it could spur a regional arms race.
"This will rapidly give our forces the very most advanced battlefield technologies as together we produce a range of cutting-edge sensors and weapons systems for undersea drones," said Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey.
Healey added that the unmanned undersea vehicles will sharpen all three countries' ability to respond to threats, including those targeting underwater cables and pipelines.
"For too long in AUKUS, we talked too much and delivered too little," said Healey, who was talking alongside Hegseth and Australia's defence minister on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
(Reporting by Xinghui Kok, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Jacqueline, Ros Russell and Shri Navaratnam)
