Note: All growth rates are compounding rates calculated between initial and final year. The Defence workforce is often viewed through the Orwellian lens of uniformed personnel good, civilian personnel bad. It’s as if the former …
There’s always a certain anticlimax when the latest Defence White Paper is released. The once-feverish anticipation eases as firm plans are set in concrete and potential maybes are accepted or rejected. However, there’s more to …
The current controversy over Australia’s Future Submarine Program, its schedule and the associated life-of-type of the current Collins class has resulted in much hyperbole as to the difficulties associated with keeping elderly boats in operation. …
As US President Barack Obama prepares to embark on an historic visit to Cuba, the future of the communist-ruled island is the subject of widespread speculation. Some observers are hoping that the ongoing shift toward capitalism, …
Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper states that it’s second Strategic Defence Interest is ‘a secure nearer region, encompassing maritime Southeast Asia and the South Pacific’ (3:68), which includes Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Pacific …
A Defence White Paper is analysis framed by numbers. More than dollars and equipment, the numbers offer meanings and mental maps. Seek the topography from the typography. The crudest measure is to rank countries by …
While the memory of Super Tuesday is bound to fade as the campaigns roll on across the US, it’s providing ample fodder for the number crunchers, campaign strategists, political tragics and the comments section commentariat. The …
The 2016 Defence White Paper, in considering the ADF’s approach to the use of outer space for military purposes, highlights a significant potential path for the ADF, and more broadly, for Australian space policy in …
While the PM has heralded the 2016 Defence White Paper as visionary, its treatment of cyber policy is stuck in first gear. As noted by Tobias Feakin last week, DWP 2016 has provided more money …
In part one of this series, I examined some of the limitations of a lead acid Main Storage Battery for Australia’s Future Submarines (FSM), the potential advantages offered by lithium ion alternatives now being developed …
Broader investment in C4ISR is becoming increasingly critical in the face of evolving threats and changes in technology according to the 2016 Defence White Paper. The Government plans to invest around $22 billion (out-turned prices) or …
Australia enters China’s strategic landscape because of its role as a close military ally of the US. It’s seen by many inside China as the ‘southern anchor’ of America’s alliance system in the Asia–Pacific region. …
The Super Tuesday results suggest that the Democratic Party coronation of Hillary Clinton has resumed and that the insurrection that propelled Donald Trump into the Republican Party lead continues unabated. Neither primary nomination contest is …
Four years ago we produced a paper on the production timeline for the future submarine, and what that meant for the longevity of the Collins fleet. Our ‘Mind the Gap’ paper was based on information …
The Beat How criminals use and counter technology Technology has transformed every aspect of modern life, including how organised crime groups operate. A new article from The Remote Control Project takes a look at the …
Of all the potentially transformational military technologies that will appear over the next 10 years, hypersonic strike weapons, and ultimately, hypersonic platforms, could radically transform future military operations as well as open up the prospect …
Back in 2013, Ashley Tellis nicely captured some of the core truths about Australia and its relationship to nuclear weapons: ‘Currently, the sole example of an Asian state possessing latent nuclear capabilities, but with an …
The 2016 defence white paper is a first-class statement on Australia’s strategic situation. It proffers a balanced view of the significance of Australia’s alliances and ably inserts their defence in the context of broader regional …
There’s one number that every conventional submarine commanding officer calculates day and night: the percentage of the Main Storage Battery (MSB) that remains. Let me bring a submarine operator’s perspective to the points made recently …
Last Thursday’s release of the Defence White Paper heralded more money and manpower for cyber security in Defence. Head of ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre, Tobias Feakin, analysed the cyber elements of the White Paper …