We start with the US and another attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. While there might not be a causal link, his obvious pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering on others – identical to that of the appropriately named Secretary of War Pete Hegseth – has helped increase a propensity for violence.
The US seems to be moving further away from what we regard as Australian values. Then we have the abrupt sacking of Navy Secretary John Phelan – unqualified for the job in the first place – which is part of a continuing purge of the US military.
In Australia we have the news that the government is buying an additional 270 Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles and also we are spending $2.3 billion on Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) and a second regiment of HIMAR launchers. PrSM is an excellent weapon – but we are doubling down on an overloaded and unreliable US supply chain at precisely the wrong time. A better choice would have been PrSM plus the Strikemaster system using Bushmasters with Naval Strike Missiles on them.
Also some words about a report by the UK House of Lords clearly and factually pointing out that the “Special Relationship” with the US is over – and will never return. When will our government accept this new reality and stop fooling themselves and the Australian people?
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Excellent podcast today Kym, hit so many nails on the head.Recent commentary from China’s EV industry about the breathtaking performance – reharge times of its imminent lighter, infinitely safer – long lasting solid state batteries instantly resonate re Ghost Shark’s potential.Particularly in light of Britain’s recent parliamentary reality check re pillar one. If only solid state battery technology could solidify the spines of the grovelling US alliance sycophants occupying Canberra.
The government and the RAN are denying reality.
Indeed, government and RAN’s abject failure to sustain a credible SSK capability begs the question how either can ever be trusted with an SSN fleet.
The US President sacks the Secretary of Navy over differences regarding their failure to prioritise ‘Trump preferred’ naval assets. The UK Parliamentary Committee review into AUKUS finds that the program is being cannibalised by emerging post-NATO defence priorities and very material fiscal constraints. Australians are told that AUKUS remains on track and is ‘too big to fail’.
From the opposition Defence spokesman we are told that the LOTE program for the Collins class is extremely risky and that we now need to acquire B21 strategic bombers to mitigate delivery risk on AUKUS capabilities.
Our media is enthralled by shell game that is being played using a single walnut shell.
That’s a rather elegant summary.
The whole AUKUS thing is a bit perplexing. First the RAN says that it doesn’t want to run two different Diesel Electric Boats, so the LOTE is born. Then say that the New Submarine Fleet will be a mix of two different Nuclear Boats and for a time a mix of Nuclear and Diesel Electric Boats. The Fleet will be for ISR but has to have a VLS, we don’t want HEU proliferation but LEU won’t do for our Subs, it’s all a bit to much contradictory.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Collins LOTE is scrapped. It keeps on getting scaled back and eventually someone is going to ask: why bother? Recent reporting from the US suggests that the construction of Virginia class boats is not accelerating fast enough even for the needs of the USN.