We start with a Canberra bubble story – but one with national implications – the strange tale of the former Chief of Staff to Defence Minister Richard Marles. The CoS of a Minister plays a vital role in the daily running of the office and has additional important duties such as liaising with the Department, other Ministers and various stakeholders. Without a competent CoS in place an office rapidly becomes dysfunctional.
Then a few more words about the unfolding disaster of SEA 3000, which is coming up for some form of short listing in November. Also we are starting to receive some information about how much Australia has earned from the sale of Taipan helicopter spare parts. The answer is – probably zero. Unfortunately it looks like the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance helicopters are also being mismanaged and unless there’s an urgent change of direction they will similarly end up in landfill. They should instead be going to Ukraine and there’s a case study that needs to be read aloud to every person in Army connected with the destruction of the Taipan fleet.
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Surprise surprise, US begins drip feeding media with its options to back out of its Pillar 1 ‘pledge’ promptly after US & UK ship builders pocket $10bn AUD from gullible Aussie taxpayers
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-17/report-suggests-australia-dump-aukus-nuclear-submarine-plans/104486868
As for your SEA 3000 concerns Kym, despite RAN’s ridiculous gag order, Korea & Japan have both effectively listed intended radar and weapon system upgrades to their bids at numerous conventions throughout year, (see links below) that process seems far less pear shaped in the morbidly obese shadow of the ‘optimal pathway’ elephant in the room…
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/09/hanwha-shows-frigate-with-australian-radar/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUgJADMQkUc
Thanks for the links. The Congressional Research Service does a great job.
Only to be expected.
No chance the US will have any “spare” subs to sell us in any case.
The sooner it becomes official US Policy and we pivot to buying half a dozen diesel electric subs from the Japanese or South Koreans the better