Defence exports to Australia will be easier under an agreement with the US and UK lifting strict rules on transfers, so the the three nations can share military tech.

The changes to AUKUS will slash red tape and unlock billions of dollars in investment, officials say.

Licence-free trade will be enabled for more than 70 per cent of defence exports from the US to Australia that are subject to regulations, from September 1.

It’s expected some 900 export permits will be eliminated, freeing up defence exports valued at $5 billion per year to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australian defence companies would be able to export to both the US and the UK licence-free.

“It really is the final step in establishing effectively a defence free trade zone,” he told ABC News on Friday.

“What it also means is that technology coming out of the US and the UK can now come to Australia licence-free and this is really important in terms of our ability to build our future submarines but also to pursue that AUKUS Pillar II agenda of those new innovative technologies.”

Two hundred export permits required for defence products shipped from the UK to Australia, worth more than $129 million per year, will also be removed.

Australia earlier this year passed the Defence Trade Controls Amendment Act, which gives exemptions to the US and UK for the sharing or supply of defence goods, technology or services.

-AAP