The AUKUS submarine program, announced in September 2021, is the most complex defence project in this nation’s history, costing an estimated $368 billion over the next 30 years. But though delivery of vessels is still many years away, it has already reshaped Australia.

Its most obvious effect is on our national purse. A report in April by the Strategic Analysis Australia think tank put spending on the submarines over the next four years at $17.3 billion, compared to the Royal Australian Air Force’s capital budget of $12.7 billion. Writing in that report, defence economist Marcus Hellyer said the proposed outlay made the submarine program effectively a fourth branch of the Defence forces, adding: “It’s hard to grasp how unusual this situation is.”

The revelation this week of a US review into AUKUS, led by US defence undersecretary Elbridge Colby, comes as Anthony Albanese heads for North America and potentially a meeting with the US president Donald Trump.Credit: Bloomberg

AUKUS has also altered our place in the world of scientific and technological research, with the Defence Trade Controls Amendment Bill, passed last year, eliminating defence trade barriers between the three signatories while putting a question mark over our future collaborations with states outside the agreement.

The most difficult change to measure is in our foreign policy and military posture. While Defence Minister Richard Marles has insisted the deal as signed does........

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