Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Before we resume discussing the US media tour, we see that Collins class submarine sustainment has been put on the government’s Projects of Concern list. ASC, the company responsible, is legally owned by the Minister for Finance, so it’s one Minister putting another on notice. When you add the review into the Australian Submarine Agency to the mix it seems there are problems with the entire submarine enterprise – but a mere two months ago the Chief of Navy criticised the media for being too negative. Next, vertical launch missile systems and the Lockheed Martin Mk 70 that holds Harpoon and SM-6 could easily go on the Arafura OPVs – an idea so good it will be totally ignored by the RAN. Finally, we visited Sikorsky in Stratford, the Lockheed Martin company building the UH-60M Black Hawk, currently being delivered to Australia. This is an excellent, reliable helicopter that will be easier for the Australian Army to maintain – especially with the money that they are throwing at it. Does it justify the decision to destroy the Taipan helicopter fleet? Of course not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast is coming from the USA but let’s start with the review of the Australian Submarine Agency, which came to light last week. This will be conducted by Dennis Richardson, one of the most pro-US people in the national security domain – so don’t be expecting any changes to the objectives of AUKUS Pillar One, just some fine tuning of methods. Next is an update of the F-35 program and the Block 4 upgrade, which has been installed on Australia’s final nine aircraft and will be retrofitted to the entire fleet. Let’s compare them with the capabilities of a Virginia class submarine – and 6 or 7 F-35s can deliver as many weapons as a single SSN. A submarine goes to sea with 40 weapons on board for a three month mission. F-35s can fly backwards and forwards, refuel and rearm – and continue attacking enemy targets day after day. Submarines are limited to the weapons they have when they leave port. Which is better value for money? Finally a few words on the end of the Assad regime in Syria: it won’t be missed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this initial Defence industry chat, we discuss Navantia Australia’s Technical Partner Network. As Jamie Gibbs explains, Navantia Australia is creating a network of local suppliers that will improve sovereign capability across the naval support domain. That’s a view shared by two of their partners, Rubicon Associates and Marenav, with both companies enthusiastic about the concept. As John Robertson and Adam Smith (not the famous 18th century economist) describe, this approach greatly benefits strategic self reliance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we cover the two big Defence stories that broke last week: the emergency funding request in the US to prop up Virginia class submarine construction and secondly the Japanese government granting approval for the potential sale to Australia of Mogami class frigates. With the frigates, the Australian government, Defence and the RAN are now in serious danger of creating a false expectation that Japan is going to win this deal, no matter what. Unless this is true – in which case why bother with a competition – expectations need to be lowered because all that Tokyo is hearing is that Australia considers the relationship with Japan to be strategically vital. If the competition is real the quickest way of calming things down is for the competitors to be allowed to openly speak about what they are offering. Next, nuclear-powered submarine production in the US is slowing down – and the Australian Submarine Agency remains in complete denial. We know for a fact that production is slowing because the USN has said it is. That’s just a fact and no amount of talking up bipartisan support in Congress makes the slightest difference to reality. And guess what – the US is already practising its lines for when all of this goes bad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.