WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement regarding the third anniversary of the U.S.-U.K.-Australia trilateral defense agreement known as “AUKUS”:

“Producing 1.2 attack submarines per year is grossly insufficient. We are not where we need to be,” Senator Wicker said. “We have reached an inflection point where we can no longer do business as usual when it comes to shipbuilding. The future of AUKUS depends on the U.S. accelerating attack submarine production and maintenance using every available tool.”

Earlier this year, after months of pushing the Biden-Harris administration, Senator Wicker helped to secure $3.3 billion in Submarine Industrial Base funding within the National Security Supplemental.