US 10,200-ton nuclear submarine could soon dock at Australian ports

US nuclear-powered submarines, potentially capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are planned to begin rotating through Australian ports from 2027 under the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the US, and the UK. Defense officials revealed during a Senate hearing that these visits could occur without public or even full government knowledge, due to the US policy of “strategic ambiguity” which neither confirms nor denies the presence of nuclear weapons on its vessels. This stance challenges Australian laws prohibiting nuclear weapons on its territory and contradicts earlier government assurances that only conventionally armed submarines would visit. The development has sparked renewed debate over Australia’s commitments under nuclear nonproliferation treaties, including the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga), which bans stationing nuclear weapons but, according to defense officials, does not forbid visits by foreign platforms that might carry them. Complicating matters is the US’s advancement of a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM