Three presumptions underlie current planning for Australia’s future submarine capability—three ‘musts’. First, the Collins class must be replaced when it reaches its life-of-type. Second, the replacement boats must be built in South Australia. Third, the …
Over the past two decades, Defence has staggered from one budget crisis to the next, trying to afford the unaffordable. Of the five White Papers issued between 1976 and 2009 for which ex post fact …
China has once again raised its defence spending by a double digit percentage. There’s nothing new about that; the average rate of growth since 2002 has been 14.6% according to official figures. Usually, the annual …
Hugh White argues in his book China Choice that the United States should share power with China. Perhaps the starkest aspect of his proposal is that it requires real and substantive concessions to be negotiated …
On the 22nd of October last year, the Abbott government announced a National Commission of Audit to ‘to review and report on the performance, functions and roles of the Commonwealth government’. Headed by the chairman …
According to the Australian Industry Group (AIG), the headcount at the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) has grown three-fold over the past decade from 2,500 people to 7,500. Armed with this remarkable statistic, in their submission …
As the new Defence Minister and his team contemplate the task in front of them, we thought it might be worth dipping into the ASPI archives for useful tips. Back in 2011 we published a …
In last week’s post we presented a potted summary of two of the four main areas of difficulty within the Defence capability development process identified by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). Today we’ll finish …
Although it went largely unnoticed, at the end of October the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) released its performance audit of Capability Development Reform in Defence. It has all the weaknesses, strengths and charm we’ve …
With a new government taking charge, the proposal to build a fourth Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) has re-emerged. Unsurprisingly, the loudest voices are those with a vested interest, including shipbuilders and shipyard unions. So far, …
In the first week of October, the 2013 Pacific Maritime Congress and Exposition will be held in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. It’ll be a massive event. More than 400 companies from 17 countries will take part …
Of all the issues facing the new defence minister, the replacement of the Collins class submarines stands out in terms of scale, complexity and difficulty. A critical aspect of this multi-billion dollar program will be …
