WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. submarine industrial base can and will support the AUKUS project to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and will itself be strengthened by that project, a senior Pentagon official said in prepared testimony on Wednesday.
Mara Karlin, the acting deputy under secretary of defense for policy, made the statement in testimony for a hearing of a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, during a visit to Washington by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
"AUKUS contributes to building a more robust defense industrial base ecosystem that contributes to integrated deterrence; and ... the submarine industrial base can and will support AUKUS," her testimony said.
