As long-term readers will know, we keep a watching brief on American aircraft development and production programs that are relevant to Australia. The two most significant ones are the RAAF’s current and future first line …
Articles by: "Andrew Davies"
The 28 March 2017 landfall of Queensland’s Cyclone Debbie revealed yet again the value of having military assets readily available to rescue and support those needing help. This time it was the Whitsunday Islands, stricken …
At last we have the Turnbull government’s naval shipbuilding plan. It claims to be the first such plan, yet the Howard government released one in 2003 and we had a de facto one from the …
As discussed recently on The Strategist, rumour has it that construction on the Future Frigate program is now unlikely to start in 2020. If true, that’s not a bad thing for completing the systems engineering …
The rumour du jour in defence circles this week is that the planned date for beginning work on the future frigate program has been slipped a couple years, out to 2022. That’s despite a robust …
It’s tempting to dismiss Trump’s election as a bizarre aberration of the digital age—a triumph of celebrity over reason. But it’s also clear that Trump succeeded because he appealed to voters on issues long ignored …
In a recent Strategist post, we discussed the pros and cons of different sized unmanned maritime aerial systems. We came down on the side of larger systems. Geoff Slocombe then took issue with our position, …
We were in Washington recently for the latest annual track-2 ‘Quad Plus’ dialogue. The meeting brings together participants from think tanks in Australia, India, Japan and the United States, as well as invited “plus” nations—this …
The Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (pictured above at ASC in Adelaide) is holding a public hearing today to consider the Framework Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the French …
We were in Washington recently. Like much of the rest of the world, the town is trying to understand the new US administration. Surprisingly, some of the Washington establishment isn’t overly alarmed. We can’t rule …
I was invited to appear last week at a hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee Review of the Department of Defence Annual Report 2015–16. The review is an …
It seems like everyone’s getting a drone these days. The latest kid on the block is the Navy, which is about to start experimenting with the capabilities of remotely piloted aircraft. Last week, Schiebel announced …