We’ve known for a while that SEA 1000, the Defence Department’s future submarine program, is going to cost a lot of money—we just haven’t known exactly how much. But as time moves on and Defence …
Articles by: "Marcus Hellyer"
In part 4 of this series, I looked at how deploying from offshore airbases would allow the F-35A to operate relatively far away from Australia in areas that are strategically important to us. However, this …
In previous pieces in this series I discussed the range limitations that are inherent in the design of tactical fighter aircraft. This includes the F-35A currently being acquired by Australia to constitute the core of …
Defence’s worst kept secret is now officially public. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds stated at last week’s Sea Power conference in Sydney that the Defence Department is conducting a strategic review. It may not be a …
I argued in parts 1 and 2 that ultimately it doesn’t really matter how many F-35s and aerial refuelling tankers Australia buys; there are hard limits on how far we can project and sustain airpower …
In part 1, I examined the hard limits on the F-35A’s unrefuelled range. Air-to-air refuelling can certainly help extend it. Tankers can substantially increase fighters’ time on station (that is, how long they can stay …
One of the ironies of the current debate about how Australia should adjust its military strategy in light of the changing great-power balance in the Indo-Pacific is that many of the participants—regardless of their views …
In part 1, I suggested that a defence funding line based on 2% of GDP is likely to fall short of the fixed funding line presented in the 2016 defence white paper. If a future …
It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. This is particularly the case with the trajectory of GDP growth. That’s one of the problems with tying defence funding to a specific percentage of GDP, …
ASPI has previously noted that we have come to take precision in modern warfare for granted. But weapons alone cannot achieve precision effects. Precision relies upon a large, often invisible infrastructure that develops the targeting …
The word on the street is that the government intends to make a decision by Christmas on whether to relocate full-cycle dockings of the Collins-class submarines from Osborne in South Australia to Henderson in Western …
As a historian, I hold the now rather quaint view that the classics can help us make sense of the world. So to understand the recent efflorescence of debate in Australian strategic policy circles prompted …