SYDNEY, Feb 17, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Australia's bid to acquire nuclear-
powered submarines is making "significant progress", the country said
Thursday in a joint statement with Britain after a virtual summit between
their leaders.

  US and British experts are now in Australia to advise on the project --
announced in September under a new Australia-Britain-US defence alliance,
AUKUS -- they said after talks between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and
British leader Boris Johnson.

  Australia says it plans to arm the submarines with conventional weapons but
has yet to decide on the details of the programme, including whether to opt
for a fleet based on US or British nuclear-powered attack submarines.

  "All three partners have made significant progress in their collective
endeavour to provide the Royal Australian Navy with a conventional-armed
nuclear-powered submarine capability at the earliest possible date,"
Australia and Britain said.

  "Leaders further welcomed the presence in Australia of UK and US officials
to provide expert advice on the many facets of nuclear stewardship needed to
operate a nuclear-powered submarine capability," they said.

  Forged at a time of growing Chinese influence in the Pacific region, the
AUKUS alliance would make Australia the only non-nuclear weapons power with
nuclear-powered submarines, capable of travelling long distances without
surfacing.

  Johnson and Morrison said they were committed to the three-nation defence
alliance "as a cornerstone of their shared efforts to promote an open,
inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific".

  The secretly negotiated AUKUS deal infuriated France, which discovered at
the last moment that its own diesel-electric submarine contract with
Australia had been scrapped.

  Australia and Britain said they were advancing in joint discussions with
the United States on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum
technologies and unspecified "additional undersea capabilities".

  A study released in December by the influential Australian Strategic Policy
Institute said the nuclear-powered submarine programme would cost more than
$US80 billion and take decades to complete. It said the vessels would offer a
significant advantage in deterring aggression from China or elsewhere.