Articles by: "Philip Radford"
UK Type 26 frigate: a cruiser by any other name?

Are modern-day frigates really cruisers, or is it just that the present-day needs of a frigate require the 6,000-plus tonnage of an old-fashioned cruiser? Alastair Cooper exchanged a polite broadside with ASPI’s Andrew Davies on …

The Three Brexiteers

Any hopes that the swiftly-engineered coronation of Theresa May meant the Brits were going soft on Brexit have been squashed by the instant elevation of a trio of hardened eurosceptics—Boris Johnson, Liam Fox and David …

Brexit: crying wolf isn’t working

Over the past fortnight, the dawning realisation that Brexit could actually happen has sent the British establishment groping for the campaign panic button. Until now, the Remain side has sat comfortably on the sorts of …

China: courting disaster in South China Sea

Peter Jennings is right to point out that siting surface-to-air missiles (SAM) on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands is a strategic game-changer for the South China Sea. It’s also the logical corollary to building …

The British are coming (back)

It’s been 40 years since a UK defence review meant much to Australia and the Asia–Pacific, but the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, released last month, signals a sea change. …

The ship that dare not speak its name

Aircraft carriers have a habit of denying what they really are. In the 1970s, Britain’s new Invincible class carriers were officially christened ‘Through Deck Cruisers’, to reassure the nation’s bookkeepers that its Navy really had …

A farewell to nuclear submarines, for now

The Defence White Paper signals full-steam ahead for Australia’s most expensive defence project ever: the design and construction, in Australia, of 12 conventionally-powered submarines. With A$200m committed to funding initial designs, however, the enormity of …