A US move to slash restrictions on transferring military gear and technology with the United Kingdom and Australia will bolster the AUKUS security alliance between the three countries, and there is more to come, government and industry officials have told the Farnborough Airshow.
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AUKUS, formed in 2021 to address shared worries about China's growing power, includes $A368 billion to help Australia acquire nuclear powered submarines.
Brian Burton, a senior adviser at the US Defense Department on international and industrial base policy, said at a panel discussion at the air show that the goal is to enable industry across the three countries to work together more efficiently.
In April, the US State Department proposed reducing licensing requirements for transferring military gear and sensitive technology among the United States, Australia and the UK under AUKUS.
The final rule was cleared by the White House regulatory office on July 19 and is set to be published in August.
"The things that we're doing - particularly in the regulatory environment - are really built to last once we make these changes ... they're very hard once you've done that to start kind of going back to the way things were," Burton said.
US State Department AUKUS senior adviser Matthew Steinhelfer noted AUKUS has strong bipartisan congressional support.
"We're very optimistic that we're going to put in place some very big, bold moves that will be an enabling factor for AUKUS," Steinhelfer said.
Dak Hardwick, vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association representing many defence contractors, said the rule change "is the most significant change to the arms export control act since" it was signed in 1976.
Shimon Fhima, director of strategic programmes at the UK's ministry of defence, said the next step is "how do we create the environment" to share information, work together and buy defence materials collectively.
Kylie Wright, Australia's assistant secretary, defence industry, said: "We're actually systematically going through each of the three systems and knocking down the barriers that are preventing us from working seamlessly and interoperably."
Australian Associated Press
