Show Notes
To follow on from last week, we start with some thoughts about Mogami frigates and why none of them will ever be built in Australia. The simple fact is that WA companies do not have the necessary experience - and building some landing craft for the Army will not get them there. Secondly, in an outrageous oversight during the bidding process, no one was asked by Defence to provide a single line of costings on how the ships will be constructed in Australia. Then some history of the Crimean War and the inability of British commander Lord Raglan to understand that the world had changed and that the enemy was different from what he was used to. This is appropriate remembering that just a fortnight ago, the retiring head of INDOPACOM USN Admiral Sam Paparo told Congress that the industrial base was not producing SSNs fast enough. All sorts of fissures are occurring in the Middle East with formerly close ally Saudi Arabia denying the US access to military bases for the short lived Project Freedom. One wonders if at some point the US and Israel might also experience a rupture. In our region, North Asia is nervously waiting for the Trump-Xi summit next week. No one knows what might happen - and this is the world we now inhabit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Asia Pacific Defence Reporter
Australian politicians and Defence planners - please note that the US betrayal of Ukraine is worsening. On top of an illegal decision to purchase Russian diesel fuel, other sanctions have been lifted and the absolutely vital Star Shield military grade internet service to Ukraine was curtailed. During that time, launches of Russian ballistic missiles went undetected, resulting in civilian deaths - and the outrage in the US has been so strong that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are now blaming each other.
We start with the latest ongoing US betrayal of Ukraine - and it's a shocker. Following a 90 minute phone call with his best friend Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has announced that the US will now buy diesel fuel from Russia. This is a total breach of western sanctions and not only stabs Ukraine in the back but also undercuts support for Ukraine. The consequences could be profound and demonstrate again that the Trump administration will break any alliance agreements whenever it suits them.
We start with some words about delayed flights in Australia and how this is a metaphor for obscure Defence decision-making, especially on subjects like AUKUS. Nuclear-powered submarines are great for travelling long distances at high speed underwater but there has never been any analysis of how this benefits Australia - particularly for the gigantic amounts of money involved.
A lot has been happening on the international scene with Australia's PM Anthony Albanese at the United Nations in New York partly to lobby for one of the rotating seats on the Security Council. It's not clear how much support Australia will receive since we are in the process of converting ourselves into one giant US military base.
We begin with another Defence procurement farce. Two years ago Defence abandoned a project called JP 9102 for geostationary military communications satellites with Minister Richard Marles explaining that they were too vulnerable and of insufficient capability. In an extraordinary development, Defence has just issued a tender for a satellite very similar to the one they cancelled. The problem is that we have missed at least 3 years acquiring a vital capability - and Australian industry lost more than $300 million because of the ineptitude of Defence.