US Navy Needs to Help Australia Defend Its Waters: Former Navy Secretary

US Navy Needs to Help Australia Defend Its Waters: Former Navy Secretary
Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Navy readiness in Washington on April 9, 2019. Alex Edelman/Getty Images
Rebecca Zhu
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Former U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said the U.S. Navy should provide more help to defend Australia’s waters until it acquires its own nuclear submarines in response to the rising threat from Beijing.

Australia’s Navy is expected to experience a capability gap as the first nuclear submarines under the AUKUS agreement will not be ready for more than a decade.