Lauren Sanders, The University of Queensland write for The Conversation.
The AUKUS partnership between Australia, the US and the UK isn’t just about nuclear-propelled submarines.
It also includes an information exchange agreement related to a number of new advanced technologies. These include cyber capabilities, electronic warfare, quantum technology, hypersonics, artificial intelligence and autonomous military capabilities.
Although the partners committed to sharing these technologies and information, there’s a problem. The US has strict trade control restrictions that impede certain technologies from being easily exported to Australia, or sold elsewhere by Australian companies after being incorporated into other items.
The restrictions on military items that would fall under the AUKUS agreement are spelled out in the United States’s International Traffic of Arms Regulations (ITAR).
