Astute Class HMS Anson arrives in Perth ahead of maintenance, deep-sea acoustic trials

It’s also understood that the submarine will be used in Speartooth large uncrewed underwater vehicle trials, undertake a submarine commanders’ training course and an additive manufacturing demonstration during the deep-sea trials.

Two Royal Australian Navy officers have been embedded aboard HMS Anson.

During the HMS Anson visit, AUKUS partners will also undertake a combined AUKUS Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 activity, assessing and enhancing AUKUS Pillar 2 anti-submarine warfare AI algorithms fitted to the Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon.

Deputy British high commissioner Dr Brian Jones, speaking during a briefing with Defence Connect on 20 February, confirmed that the Astute Class nuclear-powered submarine is expected to make port at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.

“Over the past year we brought 3,500 British armed forces personnel and a Carrier Strike Group to Australia. Today, we are preparing for a Royal Navy submarine to arrive in Western Australia for a month of planned sustainment and maintenance … This is another step along the AUKUS optimal pathway and another demonstration of our unwavering commitment,” he said.

“This submarine maintenance period, known as SMP, sends a simple message of our watertight commitment to AUKUS; solid and unwavering. It’s a top priority for the UK government.

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“Deploying one of our most capable defence assets into this region reflects our commitment to work with our close partners to uphold peace, security and stability. At a time of significant uncertainty, it has never been more important to stand rock-solid and reliable with our closest friends and allies.

“AUKUS is a strategic partnership. It’s a partnership for security, for defence, for stability, for strength and resilience, innovation and economic growth. It’s a shared investment in our collective futures.

“These visits strengthen all three nations’ capabilities. They increase our collective resilience, deepen the integration of our supply chains, and grow skilled workforces needed to deliver and sustain conventionally armed, nuclear‑powered submarines. They support contracts, innovation, capability, jobs and communities in all three countries.

“Our wider UK–Australia partnership is underpinned by the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement, our membership of CPTPP, the Geelong Treaty of last year, and by our Five Eyes intelligence-sharing cooperation. This submarine maintenance period complements all these areas of our partnership in defence and security with Australia, reinforcing security whilst deepening economic, industrial and people‑to‑people ties.

“Throughout the visit, we will see UK, Australian and US personnel working together alongside to highlight the safety, regulatory and transparency regimes that underpin our nuclear‑powered, conventionally armed submarine operations and to see the benefits this capability brings to Australia’s national security, its economy and its future workforce and communities.

“AUKUS is more than a defence partnership. Submarine programs span lifetimes: from concept through to delivery and decommissioning, they can exceed 90 or 100 years. So some people who will be working on the decommissioning of these submarines have not been born yet. It’s a long endeavour. These are great jobs, highly skilled jobs, and they are generational contributions to the economy.

“AUKUS is exciting, visionary, innovative and powerful. It is also essential to our global security, stability and the freedom of our future. It really matters to the UK and it really matters in Australia, and we are all in for it.”

The visit is reportedly fully aligned with the Non‑Proliferation Treaty, as well as obligations and commitment to the Rarotonga Treaty, the South Pacific Nuclear‑Free Zone, and Australia’s IAEA safeguards.

UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness Luke Pollard, speaking to a Defence Committee on 2 December last year, confirmed that an Astute Class submarine would be deployed to Submarine Rotational Force – West at HMAS Stirling near Perth in 2026 for two main reasons.

“First, it is one year away because it is a 2026 rotation that we are aiming for … Secondly, why contribute to the rotational forces in Australia? It is directly because the optimal path for delivery of AUKUS sees the Australians gaining benefits from having the ability to understand how they dock, service, maintain and operate a nuclear submarine,” he said.

“The agreement that we have with our Australian and American friends is that there will be rotations between a UK Astute boat and the Virginia Class American submarine operating out of Western Australia. That will build the knowledge that the Australians will need to be able to operate those boats.

“In particular for the UK context, this is about understanding how they would operate a UK-designed and operated boat. Effectively, the SSN‑AUKUS will be a similar boat in terms of some of the design principles and operating style that you would see with an Astute Class submarine.

“That is why there is a strategic advantage and importance to continuing to provide an Astute boat in rotation with our American friends, to build capacity in the Australian system to deliver this. It also creates advantage in terms of the training opportunities that we can then bring back to the Euro-Atlantic area as well.

“It is entirely realistic for us (to send an Astute Class to Australia) … It is in the planning assumption for the Royal Navy that we will participate in the rotational forces. It is key to the delivery of the AUKUS program that we do so. There is advantage for us, but we are maintaining our ability to deliver the tasks that are asked of our submarine fleet at the moment.

“One of the reasons in the Strategic Defence Review (2025) that we set out our ambition to have up to 12 SSN-AUKUS submarines is because we see there being an increasing role for the hunter-killer class of submarines. That is why we have set out the importance of procuring more of them.”

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.