A senior U.S. State Department official told a House of Representatives meeting of foreign ministers on Wednesday that U.S. officials are working “around the clock” with British and Australian officials to ensure the three countries can safely share emerging technologies to thwart threats across the Indo-Pacific. He said that he is working on this issue systematically. General Affairs Committee hearing.
Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of Defense for Arms Control and International Security, told MPs that the UK and Australia are working towards complying with the requirements set out in the National Defense Authorization Act 2024, which aims to strengthen the Australia-UK-US trilateral structure. He said he is moving quickly. AUKUS — Security and Technology Partnership.
This includes a mid-April deadline for President Joe Biden to exempt the UK and Australia from the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The exemption allows for a “country-wide defense trade exemption” and facilitates technology exchange between the three security partners.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said the ITAR exemption allows the United States to “deploy cutting-edge technology with our closest partners,” and that the UK and Australia exemptions allow the United States to “deploy cutting-edge military technology and It will be possible to build “like hypersonics” in cooperation with both countries, he added.
Jenkins called AUKUS a “great example” of U.S. leadership on the world stage and said the current security landscape, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s increasingly belligerent stance toward Taiwan, “requires innovation and creativity.” He pointed out that.
Since the passage of the NDAA in FY24, Jenkins, who leads coordination of the AUKUS partnership, said the three countries have “made significant progress within AUKUS in terms of export controls, fostering the Indo-Pacific ecosystem, and supporting operational readiness and interoperability.” “
Mr Jenkins told MPs that talks with the other two countries were “progressing very well” and that they were working to “take all necessary steps to certify that their export controls were appropriate”. We are doing what is necessary.” He said the process typically takes six to 12 months, but they are working quickly to meet the April deadline.
Mr Jenkins added that the UK had already passed legislation to streamline the process and “Australia has introduced some legislation and is moving forward with the process”.
Jenkins said the export control review and waiver process is critical to the partnership because the U.S. government needs to secure critical intellectual property from adversaries, especially regarding defense capabilities and emerging technologies.
“We know that countries like China are trying to steal information. “It would be an interesting attempt to ‘steal our technology,'” Jenkins said.
AUKUS has already enabled the United States to share nuclear submarines with Australia and enhance the use and development of each country’s emerging technologies. The Pentagon announced earlier this month that its AUKUS partners tested the effectiveness of robotic ground vehicles last year as part of an effort to identify vulnerabilities in their systems in the event of an electronic warfare attack.