It’s funny how the same document can be perceived so differently. In his demolition job on New Zealand’s latest Defence White Paper, Peter Jennings sees Wellington plumbing ‘new depths of vacuity’ in its ‘desperation to …
Back in 2009, Sean Costello and I wrote an ASPI paper called How to buy a submarine (PDF). I’m still writing about submarines, while Sean now has the job of actually delivering a dozen of …
The government’s recent decision to split the production of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) has been met with a mix of delight and dismay. Delight by those with an interest in the shipyards in Adelaide SA …
DCNS of France has been selected as our preferred international partner for the design of the 12 Future Submarines, subject to further discussions on commercial matters. The next generation of submarines for Australia will be …
In part one I explained how money and organisational issues could affect the implementation of the Defence White Paper in the near term. But even if Defence’s internal arrangements were ticking over smoothly, there’ll be …
The 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP) announced that the Future Submarine will be delivered under a ‘rolling acquisition program’. Initially we assumed this meant that submarines would be produced continuously under the same sort of …
In ‘The expanding of the shrew’ Andrew Davies offered up an interesting view of warship nomenclature and why the future frigate should be classified as a cruiser because the displacement for the vessel could be …
In my previous post, I recommended Australia develop a networked Theatre ASW (TASW) capability—including building its own Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS)—as an essential capability in the face of likely Chinese PLA-N operations in our …
The Battle of the Beams was a period during World War II concerning German attempts to harness radio navigation for night bombing in the UK and the resulting British countermeasures. The British eventually managed to …
Last year, the Defence White Paper expert advisory panel set out to gauge public attitudes to Defence. The community made it clear to the expert panel, chaired by ASPI’s Executive Director Peter Jennings, that they …
The 2016 Defence White Paper represents the most ambitious plan to regenerate Royal Australian Navy since World War II—at least according to the Turnbull government. The Navy will receive approximately $48.75 billion for defence capability …
A key aspect of the new Defence White Paper is significant enhancement to ADF force structure. In previous White Papers, a list of four principal tasks has shaped Australian military strategy. In …