As the Defence Department prepares to spend $10–15 billion buying the modern equivalent of the armoured knight, in the shape of 450 infantry fighting vehicles, it risks committing the army’s future to a capability with …
Articles by: "Marcus Hellyer"
Much of the argument for building warships and submarines in Australia ultimately rests on the rather dubious logic that we’re on an island surrounded by water. But Australia is also surrounded by air, yet nobody …
With President Donald Trump having returned from his dumpster-fire-lighting tour of Europe, the media firestorm unleashed by his claims last week that the European members of NATO were not meeting their defence spending obligations, and …
The Australian National Audit Office’s public assessments of the health of major Department of Defence projects are invaluable—but the fact that the ANAO isn’t yet reporting on the $80-billion future submarine program or the $35-billion …
Australia’s special forces have been in the news due to allegations ranging from poor culture to potential war crimes, including arbitrary executions. These allegations have led to a number of Defence-initiated reviews and investigations. Much …
Something interesting happened at the Department of Defence’s Senate estimates hearing last week. Buried among the largely predictable and interminable questions about how much Defence pays eminent persons in advisory and advocacy positions were a …
ASPI has released its annual The Cost of Defence budget brief, the first of the post–Mark Thomson era. As in previous years, this edition seeks to demystify the defence budget, as well as explore some …
The government may be planning to get into surplus in 2019–20, a year earlier than it looked like last year, but that doesn’t mean it has also brought forward its commitment to increase the Defence …
One of the key elements of the government’s strategy for national defence is an ambitious recapitalisation of the Australian Defence Force. The 2016 Defence White Paper and its supporting Defence Integrated Investment Program (IIP) announced …
In the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian, Conan laments ‘Crom is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, “What is the riddle of steel?” If I don’t …
The government has made its long-awaited decision on the first phase of LAND 400, Defence’s megaproject to acquire new armoured combat vehicles. And the even bigger decision on the future frigate is likely soon …
Those who follow large-scale Defence acquisitions might think they know which project the following statement—taken directly from Defence’s own project reporting—refers to: The … acquisition originally intended to procure a largely commercial off-the-shelf (or military …