Australia guarantees US nuclear "crown jewels"

(RT) ⸻ Australia has promised to safeguard US nuclear propulsion technology under a 2021 security pact with Washington and London, with Canberra's envoy to Washington pledging to safeguard America's "crown jewels". Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos said much progress had been made on the three-way AUKUS deal, which is set to be unveiled later this month. Australia has "assured Americans" and demonstrated "the sort of protection of information measures that we take to make sure they understand that their technology is safe in terms of leakage to third parties." The US maintains tight export controls on certain military hardware, which has created obstacles for past weapons transfers abroad. In December, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his British and Australian counterparts to further hammer out the AUKUS deal, declaring that Washington is committed to furnishing new capabilities to Australia "at the earliest possible date". Canberra's defense chief, Richard Marles, spoke of an "enormous sense of shared mission" between the three allies, noting that the US rarely shares its nuclear technology. Marles also said that Australia would take precautions to protect sensitive information given its lack of a domestic nuclear propulsion industry. In a short period of time, Australia will announce the optimal pathway for acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability, and being a nuclear steward is an important part of that announcement.