Reshaping the ADF to meet Australia’s strategic challenges

The Defence Review offers a clear vision of the future we want, and making sure we can protect our way of life and make our own decisions, rather than having our fate determined by others.

A revolution in Australian defence planning?

The new Defence Review offers a brief but important hint that Australia should fundamentally change its approach to defence planning and force design.

Arming Australia for an age of conflict

Although its proposed cuts in some army vehicle procurement are regrettable, the new Defence Review is clear-sighted about the need for long-range missiles to counter the regional threat posed by China, even if it shies from discussing China by name.

Australia enters the missile age

The government has accepted the review’s recommendations in the public version of the review report signalling a major restructuring of Defence capability to enable it to deal with major military threats.

Nuclear subs will secure our seas

Australia’s intention to add nuclear powered submarines to its Navy underlines its determination and ability to work with its allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific.

The art of showing up

Woody Allen once quipped that “showing up is 80 percent of life”, so Anthony Albanese should accept his invitation to attend the NATO summit in Lithuania in July and show solidarity with other Western nations standing up to the aggressive authoritarian threat posed by Russia and China.

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.