A Smart Agreement

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, later today on April 18, three Australian submariners are slated to graduate from the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton. They are the first three submariners from Australia under the AUKUS security agreement who are gaining proficiency to operate a nuclear-powered submarine--again, a first for both countries.

After graduating from this course, they will be headed to Naval Station Pearl Harbor for assignment to United States Virginia-class submarines, and this, again, marks another first where they will be the first-ever Australian naval personnel assigned a U.S. Navy vessel.

Over the next 12 months, 100 more Australian Navy personnel will continue in this pipeline to implement the AUKUS agreement, which is one of the smartest collaborations between the U.S., the U.K., and Australia to uplift their submarine capacity to work together for the three nations and rebalance the deteriorating security environment in the Indo-Pacific. I congratulate them all, or as they would say in Australian, good on ya.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source