Recently, a surprising neighbor has paid a visit to Darwin, a city in northern Australia. There is a U.S. nuclear submarine that has arrived a few meters from the East Arm harbor, a facility leased to a Chinese enterprise. An unexpected arrival in a period of high tension between the United States and a huge portion of the rest of the world, beginning with China, as well as institutions such as the European Union, due to tariffs.
The US nuclear submarine appears near an Australian port leased to a Chinese company
The USS Minnesota nuclear submarine has been in Australian waters for weeks, and he was surprised by its visit to the port of Darwin after docking at the Australian naval base of HMAS Stirling, where staff had the opportunity to see firsthand a type of nuclear submarine that will be received under the AUKUS military agreement (formed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The reason for this is that, according to footage obtained by NT News, it emerged just a few meters from East Arm port, a facility that has been leased to the Chinese business Landbridge since 2015. Not only that, but the USS Emory, a ship responsible for supplying logistical support to these kinds of maritime vehicles, also came with the submarine.
In addition to all the geopolitical tension, its arrival occurs during a time when the port of Darwin’s future is up for question. A decade ago, the Australian Liberal Party chose to lease these facilities for at least 99 years to the Chinese corporation Landbridge, which is owned by billionaire Ye Cheng. According to federal Labor MP Luke Gosling, there would soon be “more to say” on the facility’s potential return to Australian ownership. The port is owned by the Northern Territory government, which makes the stupid decision to lease it to a foreign corporation with close ties to a foreign government that is not one of our usual security partners, Gosling said.
The Interior Minister, James Paterson, stated that he agreed that the port should be given back to the Australian government, but he wants more than just words. Gosling stated that the government was going to take this action when he was there a few weeks ago, but we haven’t heard anything since. I believe that returning it to Australian ownership is in the best interests of the country, and I hope it occurs quickly.
A new nuclear submarine with a missile impossible to intercept was launched
The first nuclear submarine equipped with the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile was launched by Russia. Expected to be commissioned into the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet next year, the Perm is the sixth ship in the Yasen-class Project 885/885M family. Perm, a modern multifunctional nuclear submarine, is being launched in Severodvinsk as the fifth submarine in the Yasen-M project. It will join the Navy for combat missions next year and will continue to produce advanced submarine missile carriers.
In contrast to earlier Russian nuclear attack submarines, the Yasen and Yasen-M are multi-role vehicles that can use vertically launched cruise missiles to hit land-based and naval targets in addition to their conventional hunter-killer function. Russian submarines of the Akula and Oscar classes, of which five are currently in service, are to be replaced by the Yasen class. Subsequent submarines were built on the updated Yasen-M design, whereas the lead vessel was built against the original Yasen instructions. The first Yasen-class submarine carrying hypersonic missiles is the Perm.
Although no more details have been revealed, the Arkhangelsk, its predecessor, is 426 feet (130 meters) long and has a hull diameter of 42.6 feet (13 meters). Lastly, the Zircon’s stated range, depending on its trajectory, is between 500 and 1,000 kilometers (311 and 621 miles). The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), based in the United States, claims that because it can fly at Mach 8, or roughly 9,900 kilometers/6,138 miles per hour, it is practically impossible to intercept with current air defense systems.
