Why does the Australian government show so little enthusiasm for increasing the amount of aid going to Ukraine? Doing so is overwhelmingly popular with about 80% of Australians in favour. However, it looks like the government and our officials are doing just enough to tick a few boxes. At a minimum a single person with a lot of authority needs to be put in charge of the aid program – and they need to get moving. Then a media trip to a factory in the Queensland town of Maryborough that manufactures 155mm artillery shells – and all of them are purchased by the German government before finding their way to Ukraine. A Joint Venture between Australian company NIOA and Germany’s Rheinmetall Waffe Munition, it could form an essential part of a sovereign 155mm projectile capability – but again that requires a decision followed by action. Finally a few words about AUKUS and Virginia class submarines – we do the maths and figure which ones we might receive.
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and more bad news for the AUKUS submarine schedule with Lloyd Austin opposing increasing production to two Virginia-class vessels per year: https://breakingdefense.com/2024/10/adding-second-virginia-class-sub-would-come-at-expense-of-navys-next-gen-fighter-austin-warns/?utm_campaign=Breaking%20Defense%20Sea&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9pL3Uabl1ua-GE1IKI8l15gbArNsEDZOXcMC_5jycGVWMuZFNkD5GTW3-PAFLs08tpDFVO89n-uWLgT1dTq3c5755Otw&_hsmi=327502987&utm_content=327502987&utm_source=hs_email
Indeed – and the Virginia maintenance backlog is about three years and seems to be getting worse.