According to The Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is actively promoting plans to establish a permanent forward base for American nuclear submarines at the Australian naval base HMAS Stirling in Western Australia. This move is seen as key ‘insurance’ for the US in the event of a potential armed conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
The first American Virginia-class multi-purpose nuclear submarines could arrive at the base as early as 2027. In the future, there are plans for the rotational or permanent deployment of up to four such submarines. Australia is already investing billions of dollars in expanding the infrastructure of HMAS Stirling: new repair facilities, training centres, staff accommodation and ancillary facilities are being built.
This project is part of the broader AUKUS (Australia-United Kingdom-United States) strategy, which the Trump administration confirmed at the end of 2025 with the phrase ‘full steam ahead.’ At a meeting of the three countries’ defence ministers at the Pentagon in December 2025, it was announced that all work on the creation of the AUKUS submarine component would be accelerated, including the deployment of American forces in Perth and the surrounding area.
Experts note that the base in Western Australia will allow the US Navy to control access to the Indian Ocean and significantly reduce response times to possible Chinese actions in the South China Sea or around Taiwan. At the same time, critics in Australia and beyond call the project a transformation of the country into a ‘forward base for the US in the event of war with China,’ which increases the risks of Australia’s involvement in the conflict.
Officials in Washington and Canberra stress that all actions are aimed solely at ‘deterrence’ and strengthening collective security in the region. However, Beijing has repeatedly called AUKUS a ‘pact against China’ and part of a ‘cold-blooded confrontation strategy.’
The expansion of military infrastructure in Australia is happening at the same time as the modernisation of bases in the north of the country, where the US is building up its capacity to rotate B-52 bombers, F-22 fighter jets, marines and logistics. The total amount of US investment in Australian military infrastructure in recent years has exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars.
Analysts believe that amid intensifying competition between the US and China in the Pacific, the creation of such a ‘safety net’ base is becoming one of the central elements of the new US strategy of containment in the Indo-Pacific region.