Andrew Bridgen asks the Secretary of State for Defence on what is being done to strengthen and broaden the AUKUS alliance.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Ind)
More broadly, what steps is my right hon. Friend’s Department taking to further strengthen and broaden the AUKUS alliance?
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ben Wallace)
The second pillar of AUKUS includes things such as artificial intelligence, hypersonics, cyber and all sorts of other technologies that are critical not only to complement the deployment of submarines, but to further engage our collective security. Those are technologies that are rarely shared between nations, but the United States recognises that, in order to face up to the challenges till the end of this decade, we need to make sure that we both share our industries and that we have protection from each other’s markets to make sure that we not only share, but get to sell into them as well, which is quite important.