- We start with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy at the NPC last week and lots of stuff about extra missiles for the ADF. That’s all well and good – but these things are either fully imported or, at best, manufactured under license here with a few local components. There is no longer any sovereign Australian IP in weapons – we seem to have collectively given up on the idea of designing any ourselves. The latest from the mess that is AUKUS Pillar One. Then a few words about the shock cancellation of JP9102. There goes the last chance of any form of sovereign satellite communications capability – it’s back to the bad old days of having to go cap in hand to the US for some bandwidth – and then being charged a fortune for it. Finally, the shortlist for SEA 3000 the General Purpose Frigates approaches – and golly gosh what an unmitigated disaster this project is.
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Congratulations on another insightful Podcast, something I look forward too each week. I’ll refrain from comments on Minister Conroy and the GWEOE announcement, other than to say, How can any Department allow a document with so many contradictory and incorrect statements, be read out by its Minister. The Sea 3000 Goat Rodeo continues to supply us with proof that the Department Of Defence hasn’t got a clue what it’s doing. The AUKUS Fiasco just gets worse and worse and Australian Sovereignty or Content in anything is to be kept to a minimum. Navantia on the outer is a concern as their Tasman Corvette and ALFA 5000 looked like a nice pairing also the Flight III Destroyer was interesting as well. The cancellation of JP9102 in favour of piggybacking on the U.S. System was always liable to happen, more money going to AUKUS, more dependence on U.S. good Will And promises. Thank you for at least making those of us who want to know more aware of what’s happening.
Thanks Michael – I appreciate the feedback. I’m at the Submarine Institute of Australia conference in Canberra and had to sit through 15 minutes of Richard Marles (that was all the time he could spare) talking in part about the importance of transparency and scrutiny when his own staff suppress 95% of the answers to media inquiries.
Thank your for your efforts Kym, I find myself however, increasingly disheartened by the state of Defence in Australia. Too many issues to list them all, so the following are exemplars only.
We cannot crew the ANZAC class frigates we have and yet Defence would have us believe that we can crew 6 Hunter class ships AND up to 11 Sea 3000 ships, pure fantasy.
Meanwhile we are retiring the ANZAC’s as I write this, but we don’t get any replacements until 2029-2030. What exactly are we to do during this most strategically risky time?
Furthermore, 5 out of 6 Collins subs are unavailable and we also cannot crew all of those.
Army wanted 450 IFV’s and only got 150 or so. (We could have leveraged the Boxer program and ordered more of those and had a single IFV/CRV fleet of nearly 600 odd but Defence couldn’t think that clearly).
Helicopters scrapped and replacements not yet in country in numbers equals a capability abandoned.
Transport planes first designed in the 1950’s purchased without examining options or having a competition.
Drones/UAV’s both long range coastal and VTOL shipbourne cancelled with no replacements.
I wont go on, it’s too depressing,
As I have said before, someone is either awfully brilliant at destroying our defence capability or awfully dumb at building one. I just cant figure out which.
Keep up the good fight Kym, but I am loosing hope.
Regards
Thanks for the feedback – and yes, it’s a depressing picture. The standard response of the government is: “but AUKUS.”
The reporting is accurate. The government hasn’t said anything – typically continuing a policy of unnecessary secrecy – but the shortlisted ships are the Mogami from MHI and the MEKO 200 from tkMS.
Thought it was going to between the Japan and Korea. I guess Germany still has fans in the navy.
My own best guess was a Korean design (probably HHI) and tkMS.
German and Japanese bids shortlisted for the GP Frigates?
Any confirmation of this?