Biden seeks legislation to invest in Australia, UK defense industries

The Biden administration is asking Congress to make the Australian and British industrial bases eligible for grants and loans under the Defense Production Act as part of their efforts to advance the trilateral AUKUS agreement.

Biden announced that he would seek legislation to designate Australia as a “domestic source” under Title III of the Defense Production Act – a privilege currently only enjoyed by Canada – when he met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 summit in Japan on Saturday.

His remarks came after the Pentagon submitted an April 28 legislative proposal to Congress that would amend the law to add both Australia and the U.K. to Title III, which would allow the president to direct grants and loans to companies in each country as if they were U.S. companies.

“Doing so would streamline technological and industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation and build new opportunities for United States investment in the production and purchase of Australian critical minerals, critical technologies and other strategic sectors,” noted a joint U.S.-Australia statement released after Biden’s meeting with Albanese.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategies, Plans and Capabilities Mara Karlin told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that using Defense Production Act grants for the Australian and British industry would help implement the technology-sharing components of AUKUS, known as Pillar II . These capabilities stand apart from the plan to help Australia develop its own nuclear-powered submarine fleet. They include joint development on hypersonic weapons, quantum technologies and artificial intelligence.

“Pillar II – the scope, the scale, the complexity of it – it’s really unlike anything that we have ever done,” said Karlin. “We’re still looking, of course, at what it would mean for specific AUKUS projects.”

“This is a two-way street,” added Karlin. “Given of course the security environment, given the rapidly evolving technological environment, we need to be able to work with one another as much as possible.”

When the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act last year, it included an amendment from Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., that would have put Australia and the U.K within the purview of the Defense Production Act. However, Congress dropped the provision in the final bill after negotiations with the Senate.

Courtney said he hopes that Biden’s endorsement at the G7 would spur Congress to pass his legislation into law this year.

Defense Production Act

“Under current law, the [Defense Production Act] allows the president to stimulate investments in technology in both U.S. and Canadian companies to allow our nations to tackle pressing national priorities in partnership with private companies, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Courtney told Defense News in a statement. “By expanding the definition of a ‘domestic source’ to include both Australia and the United Kingdom, we can accelerate innovation in critical technologies to fulfill the goals of the AUKUS security agreement.”

Both Biden and former president Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act to procure vital medical supplies amid significant supply chain disruptions during the pandemic. The White House also invoked the Defense Production Act in March in the hopes of speeding up hypersonic weapons development. Adding Australia and the U.K. to Title III could allow defense contractors in both countries to take advantage of U.S. grants and loans for their own hypersonics programs.

Biden also used the Defense Production Act last year to unlock $43 million in funding to address critical mineral shortfalls in large-capacity batteries. China largely controls the global supply chain for critical minerals like cobalt needed to produce these batteries.

Putting Canberra within the purview of the Defense Production Act could stimulate U.S. investment in Australian mines. The Australian government’s geoscience agency notes that Australia remained the world’s largest lithium producer in 2021, controlling 53% of the global market. It is also among the world’s top five producers of cobalt and antimony, an alloy largely controlled by China that is needed to make bullets and ammunition.

Congress allocated $600 million in Defense Production Act funding as part of a Ukraine aid package last year, in part to shore up critical mineral supply chains that were further disrupted after Russia’s invasion . The State Department also developed a minerals security partnership to bolster these supply chains with 10 other allies, including Australia.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

拜登政府要求国会根据《国防生产法》使澳大利亚和英国的工业基地有资格获得拨款和贷款，这是他们推进三方 AUKUS 协议努力的一部分。

拜登周六在日本举行的七国集团峰会上会见澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯时宣布，他将寻求立法，根据《国防生产法》第三章将澳大利亚指定为“国内来源国”——目前只有加拿大享有这项特权。

此前，五角大楼于 4 月 28 日向国会提交了一份立法提案，该提案将修改法律，把澳大利亚和英国都纳入第三章，这将允许总统像对待美国公司一样，向这两个国家的公司提供赠款和贷款。

“这样做将简化技术和产业基础合作，加快和加强澳澳合作协议的实施，并为美国投资澳大利亚关键矿产、关键技术和其他战略领域的生产和采购创造新的机会，”拜登与阿尔巴尼斯会晤后发表的美澳联合声明指出。

美国国防部负责战略、计划和能力的助理部长玛拉·卡林周三在众议院外交事务委员会作证时表示，利用《国防生产法》拨款扶持澳大利亚和英国的工业企业，将有助于落实“奥库斯计划”（AUKUS）的技术共享部分，即第二支柱。这些能力与帮助澳大利亚发展其核动力潜艇舰队的计划有所不同。它们包括高超音速武器、量子技术和人工智能的联合研发。

卡林说：“第二支柱——其范围、规模和复杂性——与我们以往做过的任何事情都截然不同。当然，我们仍在研究它对具体的AUKUS项目意味着什么。”

卡林补充说：“这是双向的。考虑到当前的安全环境和快速发展的技术环境，我们需要尽可能地相互合作。”

去年众议院通过其版本的《国防授权法案》时，其中包含康涅狄格州民主党众议员乔·考特尼提出的一项修正案，该修正案将澳大利亚和英国纳入《国防生产法》的管辖范围。然而，在与参议院协商后，国会最终在法案中删除了该条款。

考特尼表示，他希望拜登在七国集团峰会上的支持能够促使国会今年通过他的法案。

国防生产法

“根据现行法律，《国防生产法》允许总统刺激对美国和加拿大公司的技术投资，使我们两国能够与私营企业合作，共同应对紧迫的国家优先事项，正如我们在新冠疫情期间所看到的那样，”考特尼在一份声明中告诉《防务新闻》。“通过扩大‘国内来源’的定义，将澳大利亚和英国也纳入其中，我们可以加速关键技术的创新，从而实现澳美安全协议的目标。”

拜登和前总统唐纳德·特朗普都曾动用《国防生产法》在疫情期间供应链严重中断的情况下采购关键医疗物资。白宫也曾在3月份援引《国防生产法》，希望加快高超音速武器的研发。将澳大利亚和英国纳入第三章，将使两国国防承包商能够利用美国的拨款和贷款来推进各自的高超音速武器项目。

拜登去年还动用了《国防生产法》，拨款4300万美元用于解决大容量电池关键矿物短缺的问题。中国在很大程度上控制着钴等生产这些电池所需关键矿物的全球供应链。

将堪培拉纳入《国防生产法》的管辖范围，可能会刺激美国对澳大利亚矿业的投资。澳大利亚政府地球科学机构指出，澳大利亚在2021年仍然是全球最大的锂生产国，占据全球53%的市场份额。澳大利亚也是全球五大钴和锑生产国之一，其中锑是一种主要由中国控制的合金，是制造子弹和弹药的必需材料。

去年，国会根据《国防生产法》拨款6亿美元，作为对乌克兰援助计划的一部分，部分用于加强在俄罗斯入侵后进一步中断的关键矿产供应链。国务院还与包括澳大利亚在内的其他10个盟国建立了矿产安全伙伴关系，以加强这些供应链。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。