A press briefing on the Australian future submarine (FSM) program by Jean-Michel Billig, the Australian program director for Naval Group (formerly DCNS), at the PACIFIC 2017 international maritime expo a few weeks ago set some …
Articles by: "Andrew Davies"
This post is adapted from a presentation to the Australian Naval Institute’s 2017 Goldrick seminar. Let me start with something nice and uncontroversial. Submarines might be obsolete by the middle of the century. It’s possible …
The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade is running an inquiry into the desirability of a long-term defence agreement. The idea is that the core components of defence policy (such as the …
My previous post on the future submarines talked about having a Plan B in case the project runs into insurmountable problems. In his response, Jon Stanford seconded the need for an insurance policy. So on …
I’ve been asked a lot in the past couple of days about the significance of the ‘missile defence’ aspect of Prime Minister Turnbull’s announcement about the combat system for the future frigates. That’s not surprising, …
I was interested to see a new approach to submarine procurement pitched by Hugh White and Michael Keating last week. They got quite a bit of media coverage, as tends to be the case for …
The Australian government is about to deliberate on the combat management system (CMS) for the navy’s future frigates. In the mix are Saab Australia’s 9LV, which is already working well on the RAN’s Anzac class …
In previous posts I looked at the major structural reforms recommended in the recent intelligence review and at the legislative changes that will be required to implement them. Today I look at the oversight of …
With President Trump’s latest comments that North Korea is facing a response of ‘fire and fury’ if it endangers the US, it’s clear that the US president is at least thinking about a pre-emptive strike …
In my previous post on the recently released 2017 Independent Intelligence Review, I promised to come back to the subject of oversight. But before we get to that, it’s important to understand the legislative framework …
There’s an air of ‘continuity with change’ about the new Independent Intelligence Review. The review almost flew under the radar this week amid all of the other changes to Australia’s national security apparatus. This post …
James Mugg’s recent piece made a convincing case that the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability of surface combatants is more about the aircraft they embark than about systems on the ships themselves. In this post I …