Australia, the UK and US are becoming a member of forces within the Pacific, however will nuclear subs arrive fast sufficient to counter China?

Canberra, Australia
CNN
 — 

More than a year after the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia dropped the tightly held news they were combining submarine forces, the trio released more details Monday of their ambitious plan to counter China’s rapid military expansion.

Under the multi-decade AUKUS deal, the partners will build a combined fleet of elite nuclear-powered submarines using technology, labor and funding from all three countries, creating a more formidable force in the Indo-Pacific than any of them could achieve alone.

But the long timeline and huge financial costs – running into the hundreds of billions for Australia alone – pose questions about how far the partners’ plans could stray from their “optimal pathway” in the decades to come as governments, and potentially priorities, change.

In a joint statement Monday, US President Joe Biden,…