In part 1, I looked at some industry and cost issues associated with an automatic transition of the AN/BYG-1 combat system from Collins to the Future Submarine. In this post, I’ll grapple with capability issues. As …
The US Government is up in arms this week over Apple’s unwillingness to provide backdoors into its software. The iPhone 5s of a man charged with distributing meth has been deemed evidence in an investigation, …
The haze from land-clearing fires blanketing Sumatra, Kalimantan and peninsular Southeast Asia for the past two months has now extended to Papua, with the blame falling on an agriculture development project aimed at turning the …
The history of science can’t be understood without reference to the history of war—and vice versa. It’s a complex relationship, sometimes celebrated, often contested, and played out in every nation including our own. Projects with …
Sea State Sino–US relations remain tense as Washington has reportedly sent a warship within 12 nautical miles of two artificial built islands in the South China Sea. A US defence official told Reuters that the …
The locus of the Australian Army’s combat capability is the soldier—male or female, combat or combat support. While it would be fair to say that large-scale equipment platforms such as ships, submarines and aircraft are …
I had the chance last week to give a short presentation at the ADF’s Joint Warfare Conference. As a professional contrarian, I started my contribution with this: ‘Jointness is overrated. It’s a concept more valued …
For a president who wanted to leave the Middle East behind so that he could focus on other pressing issues—such as the much-publicised ‘rebalancing’ to the Asia–Pacific—Barack Obama wasn’t dealt the best of hands. However, …
Momentous global and domestic events between 1963 and 1975 revealed the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to be deeply flawed as it struggled, often in vain, to combat subversion in a changing world. John Blaxland’s second …
Today ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre launches the second edition of its Cyber Maturity in the Asia–Pacific 2015 Report. It analyses the cyber maturity of 20 countries, representing a wide geographical and economic cross-section of …
Part of the Canberra fun is to ponder the public mysteries. Something big happens in full view, centre stage, with all the lights up and every key moment revealed. After the crescendo, as the scenery …
We begin today’s Suggests with a tribute to Jacky Sutton, an activist and writer, who’d been working as the Iraq director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting when it was announced she was …
Last month in Havana, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos claimed that ‘on 23 March 2016, we will be bidding farewell to the longest-running conflict in the Americas’—something indeed that Colombians have long wished for. Colombia’s …
It’s been 10 months in the planning, but when Indonesian President Joko Widodo flies to the United States next week the agenda for his 26 October meeting with President Barack Obama will be considerably different …
In considering Paul Dibb’s analysis on the Chinese PLA, I’d recommend anyone interested in the state of China’s military start by reading Roger Cliff’s China’s Military Power: Assessing Current and Future Capabilities. Cliff argues that …
The Commonwealth will shortly release a restricted tender to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to determine who should be the lead system integrator of the combat system in Australia’s future submarine. The task of the winning …
The Beat Unions call for stronger national systems to fight crime Australia’s police unions have banded together to reiterate their call for all branches of government to deliver stronger national systems to fight crime. In …
China’s top spy and Politburo member, Meng Jianzhu, made a highly unusual four-day visit to the US in early September where he forged an agreement between China and the US to cooperate more deeply on …
In recent weeks the airwaves have been aflutter with the idea that President Obama and Prime Minister Sharif might attempt to conclude some sort of nuclear deal during the latter’s visit to Washington on 22 …
Last week, attendees at the Australian Information Security Association conference were given a preview of the Australian cyber security strategy by PM&C official Lynwen Connick. Connick noted the importance of cybersecurity to future prosperity and …