SYDNEY — Australia will spend an initial A$12 billion (RM33.5 billion) to upgrade shipyard facilities for a future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, the government said Sunday.

The investment is to be spent over a decade to transform a shipbuilding and maintenance precinct in Perth, Western Australia, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

The government is ploughing money into Perth’s Henderson Defence Precinct after signing the 2021 AUKUS pact with Britain and the United States to arm its navy with nuclear-powered submarines.

The shipyard development is part of a major military restructure to improve Australia’s long-range strike capabilities in the face of China’s expanding military strength across the Pacific.

Australia, which has no infrastructure to service nuclear-powered submarines, aims to acquire at least three US Virginia-class submarines within 15 years and eventually to manufacture its own subs.

“Henderson is very much an AUKUS project. It is where we will do sustainment and maintenance of our future submarines,” Marles told a news conference.

“I have got no doubt this decision will be welcomed in the United States, as it will be welcomed in the United Kingdom, because it is another step down the AUKUS path,” the minister said.

But the decision was based on Australia’s own assessment of the “strategic landscape” it faces and the defence force it needs “to meet that moment”, he said.

The investment will help equip Henderson with high-security dry docks to maintain nuclear-powered submarines, as well as facilities to build landing craft and eventually Japanese Mogami-class frigates, Marles said.

The United States is also expected to use the shipyard for maintenance of its own nuclear-powered submarines.

Total costs to develop the Henderson Defence Precinct could eventually reach an estimated A$25 billion, the minister said.