The Pentagon's nominee for senior Indo-Pacific official said that the U.S. Defense Department is continuing its review of the AUKUS program to provide Australia with a nuclear-powered sub.

John Noh has been appointed assistant secretary. He is currently the deputy assistant secretary at the Pentagon for East Asia. He stated that U.S. submarine production must increase from 1.2 Virginia class submarines per year to 2,33 submarines annually in order to meet AUKUS commitments.

He believed Pentagon Under Secretary Elbridge Colby, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will have the chance to discuss specific suggestions on this.

Noh reiterated previous Pentagon statements, that the Department planned to complete it "by this autumn."

Noh pointed out that Australia and the United Kingdom both conducted reviews. Roger Wicker said that the U.S. report was "a shocking surprise for this committee, Congress, and the public" and a "distressing surprise for our steadfast allies, Australia."

Last month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his confidence that AUKUS is the largest defense initiative in Australia's history.

We will move forward

On October 20, he will meet with Donald Trump, the President of the United States.

The project is likely to be at the top of his list.

AUKUS is a U.S.

Canberra will buy several Virginia-class submarines

The British and Australian governments will build a new AUKUS class submarine later.

Colby is leading the Pentagon review. He said last year that U.S. industry was unable to produce enough submarines to meet American demands. Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Idrees Al-Il; Editing by David Gregorio

(source: Reuters)