Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia is "very self-critical", as it looks to address challenges for the AUKUS Nuclear Submarine Programme, including skilling their?workforce. This comes ahead of AUKUS Defence Ministers meeting in Washington.

A Pentagon review of AUKUS found "areas" to put the deal on "the strongest possible footing", a U.S. Official said last week. However, the findings were not made public.

AUKUS, announced in 2021, is Australia's biggest-ever defence project. It will see U.S.-commanded Virginia submarines in Australia by 2027.

Marles, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation interviewee on Wednesday, said that the defence ministers of Australia and Britain will meet with their U.S. counterparts in Washington on 'Wednesday localtime' to discuss "how urgently we can move forward", he added.

The U.S. review focused on whether Australia was moving quickly enough to build its nuclear submarine base and if the U.S. could produce enough Virginia submarines for its own requirements. A source familiar with the situation said that Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Collby was responsible for this review.

Marles said that the Pentagon review included recommendations for how to "do AUKUS better".

He said he was confident Australia will meet the deadline for hosting four U.S. Virginia subs at its Indian Ocean Naval Base in Perth by the end of 2027. However, the "enormous lift" required would be a challenge.

He said that "there will be challenges" in terms of training our workforce so they can do all the things we want them to, not only for building submarines but also maintaining them.

He added, "We continue to do that and be self-critical on the way."

He said that AUKUS faces other challenges, including building supply chains and increasing production rates in the United States. (Reporting from Sydney by Kirsty Neetham, with additional reporting in Washington by David Brunnstrom; editing by Michael Perry).

(source: Reuters)