Lee Goddard

The Debrief: Australia’s 2024 National Defence Strategy 🌏 In this new article, Bryden Spurling analyses Australia’s National Defence Strategy of 2024 and what it means for the UK, before William Freer investigates what lessons Britain can learn. ‘Australia’s ambition to build out its defence industrial capability and stocks of munitions and fuel is also vital, and something Britain should be looking to support.’ You can read the article here: https://lnkd.in/eQ55xvcd #BritainsWorld #Australia #Defence #NationalDefenceStrategy

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Australia's largest peace-time investment in defence capability is underway. But acquiring new, technologically advanced equipment is only half the battle. To effectively operate and support this new equipment, we need a significant growth in a skilled workforce, especially in Test and Evaluation (T&E). QinetiQ is leading the charge with our T&E Sovereign Skills Program (TESSP). Launched in 2022, TESSP enables Australian professionals to gain hands-on experience in the United Kingdom, working alongside experts and evaluating advanced capabilities like the Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarines. Cathy Riach (Diener), Sector Head of Talent Acquisition at QinetiQ Australia, explains, "We need to continue growing T&E skills in Australia. The TESSP provides accelerated development through real-life experience across air, land, sea, and digital test environments." Read the full article in The Australian to learn more about how we are investing in Australian skills 👉 https://lnkd.in/gzY4fBrD #WeAreQinetiQ #AcceleratingCapabilty #TestAndEvaluation #WorkforceDevelopment 

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Australia has become only the third country in the world to acquire and fire the Tomahawk cruise missile. The Royal Australian Navy achieved this major milestone when HMAS Brisbane, a Hobart class destroyer, successfully fired a Tomahawk missile during a test and evaluation activity conducted off the west coast of the United States. With an extended range of up to 2,500km, the Tomahawk is a world-class capability, which allows maritime platforms to perform long-range precision strike against land targets. Acquiring this capability significantly enhances the ADF’s ability to deter against any potential threat and keep Australians safe. Australia is one of only three nations alongside the United States and United Kingdom to acquire, and now fire, these missiles. Australia will acquire more than 200 Tomahawk missiles, which will be deployed in its Hobart class destroyers and future Navy platforms including Virginia class submarines and, subject to feasibility studies, the Hunter class frigates. The Australian Government is investing $1.3 billion to acquire this important capability for the Navy, which is being introduced into service several years faster than originally planned. Acquisition of Tomahawk, along with the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and Standard Missiles 6, provides Navy with the most sophisticated and cutting edge naval strike and missile defence capability in its history. “The Tomahawk is the jewel in the crown and a step change in our firepower, deterrence and ability to strike land-based targets at ranges never before available to the Royal Australian Navy," said Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, the Hon Pat Conroy MP. “This is about keeping Australians safe. But in conjunction with our other investments in long-range strike, as well as the decision to manufacture NSM in Australia, it’s also about delivering more jobs and a safer future made in Australia. Thank you to our Industry partners for your part in helping Defence to acquire these capabilities.” Image courtesy of Department of Defence.

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New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are leading the creation of a new Defence Capability Plan. If that work is corralled through existing processes and knowledge within the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence Force to assess what is needed now, their solid intent could well fail. Warfare is co-evolutionary. Each combatant force learns how to fight a specific enemy in a specific situation by actually fighting them, and responding and changing based on what their enemy does. Armed forces deal with pressure created by co-evolution by adapting and evolving faster than their enemy, thereby gaining incremental or decisive advantage. But just because a war fighter or a deployed force identifies an urgent need for change in equipment, tactics, or logistical supply to deal with co-evolutionary pressure, that doesn’t mean they have control over making that happen. In conflict, how effective military adaptation can be at the tactical war fighter level is dependent on political and bureaucratic oversight of military forces. So rather than accepting a wish-list of weapons systems, software, platforms and other “capabilities”, our political leaders need to be requiring paradigm-shifting innovation in thinking and process. What’s required is to turn our moribund, glacial and mind-numbingly bureaucratic peacetime defence establishment into an adaptive, agile, and end-to-end support system.

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Drawing on her recent Australian Naval Institute paper, #AP4D Advisory Group's Jennifer Parker says that Australia's #maritimesecurity architecture is not ready to deal with modern maritime threats, and calls for the establishment of a Coast Guard. "Given the reduction in warning time for crises and the increasing complexity of maritime security threats, it is time to rethink Australia’s maritime security structure." Read her piece at https://lnkd.in/gD-7Aiva.

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Australia's Defence Department's recently tabled Annual Report for 23/24 reveals that the approved project cost for the first three Hunter Class frigates is $A27.1 billion. That's a smidgen over $A9 billion a ship. The US Navy's Constellation Class frigates are based on a highly modified version of Italy's FREMM (which was one of the contenders for Australia's Hunter program). The 10 ships in the US program so far generally have budgeted procurement costs of roughly $US1.1 billion to $US1.2 billion each. That's $A1.8 billion Australian dollars per ship - over $A7 billion less per ship. According to the latest Congressional Research Service report (link below): "The lead ship has a higher estimated procurement cost ($US1,386.7 million, or about $US1.4 billion) than the follow-on ships because it is at the top of the production learning curve for the class, and because the lead ship’s procurement cost incorporates much of the detailed design/nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the class." (I'm including this because a response I expect is that the Australian cost will include such one-offs.) A funny thing is that this US Navy Constellation Class program is considered scandalous in US Defense circles because it's costly and the program to deliver them is slow. But the US Navy only selected the ship in April 2020. The first in class was to be delivered in April 2026, but is now delayed by 3 years to April 2029. There will almost certainly be cost growth from the $A1.8 billion a ship if the US Navy procures more at the end of the 10 ship fixed price contract, but even a 50% increase still makes them cheap as chips compared to a Hunter. In Australia, BAE's Hunter design was selected in 2018 and the first ship is scheduled for delivery to the RAN in 2032 - to enter service a couple of years later, at a cost of $A9 billion a ship. So, from here in Canberra, with our Hunter frigate program as the comparator, the scandalous US Navy Constellation program looks like a fast program delivering exceptional value for money.....

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Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Cost of Defence Report is out and highlights the growing disconnect between rhetoric and capability. A great quote from Rebecca Shrimpton's accompanying op-ed below: "If war were to break out at any time in the next 10 years, our military would essentially fight with the force it has today. Based on current resourcing, nothing significant will change over the decade." Mobilising our economy and scaling our Defence and National Security capabilities will be vital - and even more so if the force in being remains not fully fit for purpose for the strategic context until the mid 2030s. #readynow #futureready #defence #nationalsecurity #indopacific

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"To conclude, I want to build on McInnes’s focus on the need dramatically to reduce the cost of the weapons being used. I would argue that we need to build the functional equivalent of the 155mm shell used by the artillery for an air-launched missile which can be produced across the allied forces. This will not be a super long missile, probably in the range of 400 miles, but the long range TLAMS which go further are expensive and in limited supply. What this means is that the future belongs to the common air missile produced in quantity that could also be fired from the ground or sea. The functional equivalent of the role of the shells of the 88 in the German army in World War II is what I envisage."

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Military ‘exposed to missile threats’ The Australian’s Ben Packham I’d take this a step further & say the Australian public is exposed. Not only is deployable integrated air & missile defence capability an issue, as is protection of bases but so is protection of key civilian infrastructure. Whilst it must be acknowledged that some of these projects would be classified, the Integrated Investment Program associated with the National Defence Strategy release appeared to reduce IAMD funding. This is another example of pressure on the IIP. Greater investment is needed. 5.7B over the Forward Estimates given the potential threat is not enough. It is however incorrect to say that 38% of the Defence budget is for nuclear-powered submarines. 38% of the IIP (a subset of the budget) is apportioned to the maritime domain (which includes all capabilities for the maritime domain). Extra money has actually been given for AUKUS Pillar 1. Military ‘exposed to missile threats’ https://lnkd.in/gncthqEy

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The Albanese government's 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Program (IIP), launched on April 17, begin a biennial defense policy development process as outlined in the 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR). These documents emphasize the continued importance of the space domain for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), reflecting more continuity than change from previous policies. Australia’s launch geography is a key factor prompting the signing of a Technology Safeguards Agreement with the United States on launches and returns. https://lnkd.in/eTF22JdU Australian Defence Magazine Royal Australian Air Force Defence Australia RealClearDefense United States Department of Defense #AustralianDefence

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🔉Listen to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's latest podcast including our very own Commander, General Jim Hockenhull, who delves into: 🇦🇺 🤝 🇺🇸 The importance of partnerships, such as AUKUS, and the need for partners to be integrated. 🖥 How we are developing cutting-edge technology with international partners; including looking at the way artificial intelligence, cyber and electronic warfare are transforming, and how we can adapt to these future trends in warfare. 🌏 Working together on Indo-Pacific security. https://lnkd.in/grmuDxdD

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Many of the strategic benefits for regional deterrence kick in from 2027, when five nuclear-powered submarines, with joint Australian, British and US crews, begin routine operations from Australia to boost training, Monday's report said. By the middle of the next decade, AUKUS partners will have doubled the number of forward-deployed allied nuclear submarines that could operate in the first 10 days of a western Pacific crisis, it added. The submarines based in Australia would reach a conflict theatre faster than those in Hawaii or San Diego, and are beyond Chinese missile range, unlike US bases in Guam or Japan, it said. https://lnkd.in/gS9dGqMU

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The Strategic Defence Review: Lessons from Australia’s National Defence Strategy 🇦🇺 ‘Although Britain’s position is not identical to that of Australia’s, maritime power should be front and centre of the emerging British defence review.’ You can read the Memorandum by William Freer here: https://lnkd.in/eyMPtuaC #BritainsWorld #TheMemorandum #SDR #StrategicDefenceReview #NDR #NationalDefenceReview

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The Australian Government has announced it will establish a consolidated Commonwealth-owned Defence Precinct at Western Australia’s Henderson shipyard, to support the build of new landing craft for the Australian Army and new general purpose frigates for the Royal Australian Navy, with requisite large vessel infrastructure to form part of the Precinct. The Precinct will also be the home of depot-level maintenance and contingency docking for Australia’s future conventionally‑armed, nuclear-powered submarines. In announcing the Precinct, the Federal Government said it would “underpin tens of billions of dollars of investment in defence capabilities in the West over the next two decades and support in the order of 10,000 well-paid, high-skilled local jobs”. To deliver the long-term program, the Australian Government and Western Australian State Government have signed a Cooperation Agreement, which provides a foundation for collaboration to deliver the Defence Precinct and related activities. This will include: - Developing a dedicated joint forum to deliver the skilled workforce required to deliver and sustain critical Defence capabilities. - Establishing the necessary infrastructure, including common user facilities, to support industry across the Defence Precinct at Henderson. - Ensuring effective engagement across Federal, State and Local governments and communities. See the Full Agreement: https://lnkd.in/g6HSkR9u The Federal Government will make an initial investment of $127 million over three years to progress planning, consultations, preliminary design and feasibility studies as well as enabling works for the Defence Precinct at Henderson. “The Albanese Government’s commitments represent the most consequential defence investment in Western Australia in nearly four decades, since the commissioning of HMAS Stirling in 1978 and its expanded role as Australia’s Indian Ocean fleet base under the 1987 two-oceans navy policy,” said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. “The Defence Precinct at Henderson will optimise Australia’s shipbuilding and sustainment industry while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia and Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine pathway." Image courtesy of Defence

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The Australian Government has announced it will establish a consolidated Commonwealth-owned Defence Precinct at Western Australia’s Henderson shipyard, to support the build of new landing craft for the Australian Army and new general purpose frigates for the Royal Australian Navy, with requisite large vessel infrastructure to form part of the Precinct. The Precinct will also be the home of depot-level maintenance and contingency docking for Australia’s future conventionally‑armed, nuclear-powered submarines. In announcing the Precinct, the Federal Government said it would “underpin tens of billions of dollars of investment in defence capabilities in the West over the next two decades and support in the order of 10,000 well-paid, high-skilled local jobs”. To deliver the long-term program, the Australian Government and Western Australian State Government have signed a Cooperation Agreement, which provides a foundation for collaboration to deliver the Defence Precinct and related activities. This will include: - Developing a dedicated joint forum to deliver the skilled workforce required to deliver and sustain critical Defence capabilities. - Establishing the necessary infrastructure, including common user facilities, to support industry across the Defence Precinct at Henderson. - Ensuring effective engagement across Federal, State and Local governments and communities. See the Full Agreement: https://lnkd.in/g6HSkR9u The Federal Government will make an initial investment of $127 million over three years to progress planning, consultations, preliminary design and feasibility studies as well as enabling works for the Defence Precinct at Henderson. “The Albanese Government’s commitments represent the most consequential defence investment in Western Australia in nearly four decades, since the commissioning of HMAS Stirling in 1978 and its expanded role as Australia’s Indian Ocean fleet base under the 1987 two-oceans navy policy,” said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. “The Defence Precinct at Henderson will optimise Australia’s shipbuilding and sustainment industry while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia and Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine pathway." Image courtesy of Defence

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In an era where geopolitical tensions are as palpable as the morning dew, Dr. Peter Layton, PhD’s incisive analysis, “Australia’s Grand Strategies and the Royal Australian Air Force,” emerges as a beacon of erudition and foresight. This treatise delves into the intricate dance of diplomacy and defense that #Australia must navigate amidst the burgeoning assertiveness of #China. https://lnkd.in/ePQb-4Sw Dr. Layton elucidates the dual grand strategies of #balancing and #engagement, which Australia has astutely adopted. However, he posits that the Royal Australian Air Force (#RAAF), despite its modernity and commendable training, faces significant challenges in scale and sustainment. The article underscores the necessity for a recalibrated focus on #airpower, lest Australia’s defense posture be found wanting in the face of protracted conflict. As publishers, we are honored to present this scholarly work that not only dissects the current strategic milieu but also offers a clarion call for a more robust and comprehensive #defensestrategy. Engage with this pivotal discourse and join the conversation on the future of Australian airpower. #geopolitics #defense #strategy #IndoPacific #grandstrategy Air University Air University Press Griffith Asia Institute (Admin) Griffith University Royal United Services Institute U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Pacific Air Forces Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies

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In urgent strategic times, with huge lessons around warfare and systems in two current wars, Australia's Defence organisation is mired in complacent continuity. And the Government is happy with that, with Ministers Marles and Conroy celebrating this as success. As SAA's Marcus Hellyer writes: "Fundamentally the current government’s defence industry policy is one of continuity. Industry policy mirrors capability priority, and that is still built around small numbers of exquisite, crewed platforms. So industry policy is centred on large construction programs that build foreign designs largely comprising foreign components. These systems take years to design and build at exponentially increasing cost. They do, however, require thousands of presumably unionised jobs. Unfortunately, it’s the same glacial approach that led to the Defence Strategic Review’s judgment that the ADF was not fit for purpose. If the government had truly wanted to show Defence and industry that there was a new sheriff in town, it would have cancelled another legacy it inherited, namely the Hunter-class frigate, a grotesque program whose cost has spiralled while its scope has shrunk from nine ships to six and won’t deliver any capability until 18 years after the program started. If the Albanese government wanted to achieve something truly new in its current term, it could push the ADF out of its com­fort zone and direct it to rapidly acquire locally designed and made systems." That's clearly not what the Government wants. Instead, it's let Defence double down on its already large dependencies on big foreign primes, knowing that these companies are struggling to deliver even to their home militaries at the speed or volume required. And its feeding the Australian military's addiction to small numbers of exquisite, complex and expensive systems while also feeding these primes' bottom lines. The Houthis can do indigenous defence production, but our ministers and defence leaders don't believe Australian industry can. This is a wrong and dangerous path. Read the article here:

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