The Australian Defence Force is missing an opportunity in shifting the focus of its recruitment drive away from the three armed services and onto the ADF as a whole. By doing so, it’s failing to …
Articles by: "Jennifer Parker"
It is rare for a developed nation’s navy to lose a big vessel in peacetime. The sinking of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s HMNZS Manawanui after it ran aground on a Samoan reef this month—the country’s first …
Australia must become more active in the western Indian Ocean, not least because the country’s fuel supplies depend on tanker traffic through the region. The Royal Australian Navy has operated in the western Indian Ocean …
This is no time to be thinking of jumping from the plan to build nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) with Britain and into a doubtful alternative of constructing US Virginia-class boats in Australia. Doing so would …
Australia’s planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines is undoubtedly ambitious and risky. But the frequent negativity among Australian commentators is detached from the reality of the success to date of the plan’s progress and the wider …
We’ve had plenty of defence announcements so far this year. Many have rightly focused on Australia’s situation and vulnerabilities as an island trading nation, one whose daily survival depends on the fuel, fertiliser, pharmaceuticals and …
Almost a year ago, the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) set homework for the Department of Defence, including reprioritising the country’s rolling plan for military capability spending, the Integrated Investment Program (IIP). That update is now …
Today marks 12 months since the release of the ‘optimal pathway’ Australia needed to follow to acquire a force of nuclear-powered and conventionally-armed attack submarines (SSNs) under the AUKUS agreement with the United States and …
Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the loss of the Royal Australian Navy destroyer, HMAS Voyager (II), which sank 20 nautical miles south-east of Jervis Bay. Of the 314 crew of Voyager, 82 were …
The Government, and many others, have described the grim parallels between Australia’s present strategic circumstances and those leading up to World War II. As a maritime nation we must ask urgently how we find ourselves …
Originally published on 26 May 2023. The defence strategic review highlighted the need for the Royal Australian Navy to have two levels of surface combatants to provide ‘increased strike, air defence, presence operations and anti-submarine …
‘This is Australia’s most challenging strategic environment since the Second World War. And looking back to the lead-up to the Second World War provides important lessons about the need to invest in defence.’ — Minister …