Reading Australia’s defence review

The soon-to-be published Defence Review has to answer a lot of questions that all Australians need answers for regarding the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Innovation in defence

There’s no secret government silo of advanced technology to save us if war breaks out. If the allied democracies are to prevail, we will need action at scale, and the only way to create a silo of advanced technologies is to build it.

Lost in the long grass

Commentators criticising the purchase of planes, submarines and tanks by the Australian Defence Force are quick to call these capabilities obsolete, but such glib analysis is seldom based on reality, let alone the history they inevitably reference.

A mountain of missiles

Order is a product of power, and the purchase in recent years of a range of modern missile systems will help Australia deter aggression in the region in the years to come.

Continuity in strategic planning

The former Australian defence minister Ian McLachlan has made a timely plea for genuine bipartisanship in defence planning to provide advice based on experience and to ensure continuity across successive governments.

Submarines mean security

Foreign charges that Canberra’s SSN program might promote conflict with Beijing or start a nuclear arms race should be dismissed as the self-serving propaganda of aggressor states.

AUKUS submarines strengthen Australian sovereignty

In a world becoming ever more interconnected, national security rests on an interpretation of sovereignty that embraces international partnerships, with trusted and reliable partners, especially the US alliance.

Don’t go easy on espionage

Australian businessmen and academics may urge decision makers to turn a blind eye to Chinese espionage and interference to protect their own interests, but Australia must robustly defend itself and democracy.

Australian sea power

Bulking up the number of missile cells on new Australian ships will help our Navy deliver the firepower required to take on peer combatants on the world’s oceans.

Upgrading Australia’s defence production to industry 4.0

Australia has to radically rethink what various parts of Defence do and how to optimise the many opportunities presented by Industry 4.0 techniques.

Post war lessons for a prewar world

The current defence capability review being undertaken by Stephen Smith and Angus Houston could be informed by a similar exercise at the end of World War Two.

Talking about the sixth generation

Adopting the next generation of air combat systems will help Australia protect itself from China and other potential aggressors in the future.