Australia will spend an initial 12 billion Australian dollars ($8 billion) to upgrade shipyard facilities for a future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, the government said Sunday.

The ¡°very significant¡± investment is to be spent over a decade to transform a shipbuilding and maintenance precinct in Perth, Western Australia, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.

The government is plowing money into Perth¡¯s Henderson Defense Precinct after signing the 2021 AUKUS pact with Britain and the United States to arm its navy with nuclear-powered submarines.