WASHINGTON — The AUKUS defense pact between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia faces the possibility of a major delay as the Pentagon has launched a review of the program.
The trilateral cooperation, a signature project of President Joe Biden and his Indo-Pacific czar Kurt Campbell, has fallen out of favor with Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, who has long questioned the merit of delivering submarines to foreign nations, while the availability of America’s own fleet is in doubt due to manufacturing and maintenance bottlenecks at U.S. shipyards.
