One of the questions I’m sometimes asked is ‘why do we call 6,000 ton warships frigates’? The implicit assumption behind the question is that the frigates of the past were vessels of modest size, and …
Search Results for "surface ships"
Political controversy, design issues and a logistics foul up, including a failure to allocate the resources to sustain the capability—there are some strikingly familiar themes in the acquisition of Australia’s first submarines, two 700-tonne E-class …
In his recent post on Australian policy towards acquisition of nuclear weapons, Rod Lyon responds to a thesis promoted by Christine Leah and Crispin Rovere that Australia should acquire its own independent nuclear deterrent capability. …
This week’s release in the ADF capability snapshot series takes a look at the Royal Australian Navy. (Here’s a link to last week’s RAAF paper.) Again, there’s a lot more good news than bad in …
Sea State Last week the destroyer USS Donald Cook visited Turkey’s Aksaz naval base on Turkey’s southwest coast for joint Turkey–US exercises. Elements of the Turkish naval force present included submarines, surface and air defence …
In a rare moment of not talking about submarines or frigates at the recent PAC2015 meeting, we sat down for a talk with the good folk from MDBA, a multinational company that does a lot …
Sea State The US Navy has reportedly declared its intentions to send a surface ship inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims for its man-made islands in the South China Sea. According to the Financial …
We’ve been at the PAC2015 maritime expo and conference this week. There’s only really been two topics of conversation on the trade floor: the future submarine and the future frigates. Admittedly those two projects amount …
There’s only one question in defence circles today: Will Malcolm Turnbull retain Tony Abbott’s commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence in 2023, and if so, in what form? Prior to the leadership change, …
My previous post highlighted the growing challenge of advanced anti-ship missiles to naval surface combatants where I noted that the effectiveness of these counter-intervention systems depends on the adversary achieving early success in information warfare. …
Taiwanese defence planners face a simple—though unenviable—task when crafting the country’s defence policy and military strategy. Taiwan’s only potential enemy is the People’s Republic of China, which is rapidly modernising the PLA. In the face …
Hugh White’s equally ‘spirited’ response to my critique raises several questions in my mind. Unsurprisingly, I differ with him on several points. I accept—and have said elsewhere—that, unlike on land, the defence has no inherent …