SYDNEY, July 28 (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was confident a deal for the U.S. to sell nuclear powered submarines to Australia was on track, ahead of talks between defence and foreign ministers of the two countries on Friday. Twenty-five U.S. Republican lawmakers told President Joe Biden on Thursday the plan to sell three attack submarines to Australia under the so-called AUKUS partnership would "unacceptably weaken" the U.S. fleet without a clear plan to replace them. The United States, Britain and Australia announced the three-way AUKUS defence agreement in 2021 under which Australia is to obtain nuclear submarine technology from the United States. The U.S. is Australia's major security ally and announced with Britain in March that the United States would sell Australia three U.S. Virginia class nuclear powered submarines in the early 2030s, before Britain and Australia produce a new submarine class - SSN-AUKUS - the following decade. "Now's the time to be working closely with friends, and Australia has no better friend than the United States of America," Marles said at the start of a meeting with his U.S. counterpart.

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Persons: Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Albanese, Richard Marles, Austin, Marles, Kirsty Needham, Alasdair Pal, Praveen Menon Organizations: SYDNEY, Australia's, Republican, U.S, Defence, ., Democrats, NATO, Britain, Australian Defence, Sky, U.S ., Marines, Thomson Locations: Australia, Queensland, United States, Britain, Lithuania, U.S, . Virginia, CHINA, East, South, Japan, United States of America, Darwin, Sydney, Lincoln