U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and two of his colleagues introduced a bill Friday in Congress that provides legislative authority for the transfer of Virginia-class submarines built at Electric Boat to Australia.

Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York and Ami Bera of California, both Democrats, joined Courtney, who represents eastern Connecticut, in sponsoring the AUKUS Undersea Defense Act, which supports the trilateral agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States by also authorizing the training of Australian private sector defense personnel and facilitating Australian financial contributions to the U.S. defense industry.

“It has been three months since the heads of government of the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom announced the Optimal Pathway to execute the AUKUS security agreement, whose centerpiece is to enhance Australia’s Navy nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarines to maintain a peaceful, open Indo-Pacific region," Courtney, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, said in a statement.

“Introduction of this enabling legislation is a critical first step towards swift congressional action to support this enterprise,” he said. “... Passage of this common sense bill, which was crafted in collaboration with the Department of Defense, will demonstrate the commitment of the U.S. Congress to the AUKUS mission.”

Announced in September 2021, the AUKUS partnership comprises Pillar 1, a trilateral effort to support Australia’s acquisition of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, and Pillar 2, which focuses on fostering cooperation in critical technologies, including cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence and additional undersea capabilities.

The introduction of the new bill Friday came after Courtney urged Congress to act on President Joe Biden’s legislative proposal regarding Pillar I at a recent House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

At the hearing, Mara Karlin, assistant secretary of defense for strategies, plans, and capabilities, said enabling Pillar I is “a signal to our commitment to AUKUS, which is critical for generating deterrence ... Acting now sends a message to our defense industrial base as well that there will be a persistent flow of business to come … and really ensuring that the submarine industrial base is able to start taking the steps that it needs with Australia’s contributions.

“Absent this legislative proposal we actually don’t have a way to take that money in,” Karlin said.

Courtney sponsored the first AUKUS-related legislation in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, a provision establishing a submarine officer training pipeline between the United States and Australia.

Biden announced in March that Australia will buy from three to five Virginia-class submarines from the United States, beginning in the 2030s. Electric Boat builds the submarines in a teaming agreement with Newport News Shipbuilding of Newport News, Va.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com