Andrew Williams

And I'm Andrew Williams.

We are.

We got that update from Defence Minister Richard Miles, who was in Singapore for a big military forum over the weekend.

And he was keen to look at the positives on this.

He says it'll make things simpler and more cost effective.

But others have said we'd be better off with vessels that come straight off the production line.

It's not necessarily faster.

We're still not going to get these subs until the early 2030s.

And as for why it's happening...

That's not entirely clear.

Coalition Defence spokesman James Patterson says he wants an explanation on why this change has happened at Senate Estimates this week to try and fully understand the implications of it.

Yeah, this is where it plays into sort of the broader conversation about our security relationship with the US.

Another defence expert, Michael Shoebridge, said the US aren't building enough submarines in general, so they're keeping the more capable ones for themselves.

Essentially, they're keeping the better stuff and we get the hand-me-downs.

So as for where we're up to with AUKUS in general, you might remember that the US began a review of that pact that we signed in 2021.

after US President Donald Trump came to power last January.

We've talked about it a bunch.

And that did lead to some concern that the pact would be scrapped altogether.

Now, that didn't happen.

President Trump confirmed last year when he met with our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, that the plans were full steam ahead.