Australia will save money and avoid complexity by only buying second-hand nuclear-powered submarines, the defence minister says, marking a significant shift in the initial stopgap phase of the AUKUS plan.
The federal government is now scheduled to buy three Virginia-class submarines already in service, instead of a mix of new and used US vessels.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the trilateral agreement was "incredibly complicated" and any move to simplify it would be beneficial.
"In the context of a very complicated endeavour, we need to place a premium on simplicity ... what we will have here is a much simpler pathway," he told reporters on Sunday from a major summit in Singapore.
"It will mean the Virginia-class submarines that we are acquiring will all be of the same type."
