AUKUS is discussed almost entirely through Pillar 1, because hull numbers and delivery dates are concrete. Pillar 2 is where the arrangement will actually be tested.
What is in it
Advanced capabilities: hypersonic and counter-hypersonic systems, undersea autonomy, quantum technologies, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and cyber. These are areas where all three partners already have programmes, and the proposition is that co-development beats three parallel efforts.
Why it is harder than it sounds
The binding constraint is not technical, it is legal. Sharing this material means moving it through export-control regimes written to prevent exactly that. Reform of those regimes is the load-bearing element of Pillar 2, and progress on it is the thing worth tracking — not the announcements.
What to watch
Licence-free trade volumes between the three, the exemption lists, and whether industry on all three sides actually changes behaviour in response. Announcements are cheap; changed paperwork is not.