July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Australia plans US$190 billion defence boost over decade

Rod McGuirk

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA -- Australia's prime minister on Wednesday announced 270 billion Australian dollars (US$190 billion) in additional defence spending over the next decade, which will include long-range missiles and other capabilities to hold enemies further from its shores.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that the post-pandemic world will become more dangerous and announced a renewed focus on Australia's immediate region, although its military would be open to joining U.S.-led coalitions as it did in Afghanistan and Iraq in campaigns that were in the Australian national interest.

Australia had not seen such economic and strategic uncertainty in the region since the Second World War for reasons including tensions between the United States and China, he said.

"This simple truth is this: Even as we stare down the COVID pandemic at home, we need to also prepare for a post-COVID world that is poorer, that is more dangerous and that is more disorderly," Morrison said.

Tensions over territorial claims were rising between India and China and in the South China Sea, Morrison said.

"The risk of miscalculation and even conflict is heightened," Morrison said. "Regional military modernization is at an unprecedented rate."

"Relations between China and the United States are fractious at best as they compete for political, economic and technological supremacy," he added.

Rory Medcalf, head of the Australian National University's National Security College, said the announcement showed Australia was "getting serious about deterrence and the prospect of armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region."

"It was only a matter of time before the Australian government made a choice about the kind of defence force that we're going to have in the 21st century with the rapid deterioration in the strategic environment in recent years," Medcalf said.

"The government has accepted that the Australian military needs to be able to attempt to deter armed conflict through its capabilities and to be able to fight in our region if we have to," he added.

Australia will invest in more lethal and long-range capabilities that will hold enemies further from its shores, including longer-range strike weapons and offensive cyber capabilities.

To increase maritime strike capability, Australia will buy the AGM-158C anti-ship missile from the U.S. Navy at an estimated cost of AU$800 million, the government said.

The new missile is a significant upgrade from Australia's current AGM-84 air-launched Harpoon anti-ship missile, which was introduced in the early 1980s. It has a range of 124 kilometres (77 miles), while the missile being purchased can exceed 370 kilometres (230 miles).

The new missile will initially be used on the F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighters but can be used by other defence aircraft. Training on the weapon system would begin next year, the government said.

Australia will also invest in advanced naval strike capabilities, including long-range anti-ship and land strike weapons, and will buy long-range rocket artillery and missile systems to give the army an operational strike capability.

It also plans to develop and test high-speed, long-range strike weapons, including hypersonic weapons.

The announcement comes as Australia's relationship with China, its most important trading partner, is under extraordinary strain over Australian calls for an independent investigation of the pandemic.

The United States, Australia's most important security partner since the Second World War, remains "the foundation of our defence policy," Morrison said.

"Of course we can't match all the capabilities in our region," Morrison said. "That is why we need to ensure that our deterrence capabilities play to our strengths."

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/australia-plans-us-190-billion-defence-boost-over-decade-1.5006902

On the same subject

March 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace

What does Australia think of the F-35? One Air Force commander details his experience
By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia — The commander of the Royal Australian Air Force's Air Combat Group has provided insight into his experience with the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, during the 2019 Avalon Airshow this week. Australia has 72 F-35As on order to replace the F/A-18A/B “Classic” Hornet fleet, as it's known Down Under; the country has received 10 aircraft to date. Two aircraft were delivered to RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Sydney, in December 2018, and a further eight are based in the United States at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, in support of international F-35 pilot training with the U.S. Air Force's 61st Fighter Squadron. Air Commodore Mike Kitcher said two more aircraft will be delivered to Australia in early April and eight will have arrived by the end of 2019. “Those two jets at Williamtown are flying five to six sorties a week, largely for aircrew training at the moment. We'll add another two aircraft to that fleet in early April, and we'll have another four by the end of this year and eight aircraft in Australia by the end of the year,” he said. Kitcher also described a sortie he flew in the Red Flag 19-1 exercise held in Nevada in February, in which RAAF Hornets flew with U.S. Air Force F-35As as part of an international strike package. “One of the key strike missions I did that day was to watch an eight-ship [formation] of F-35s kick open a door, which was a fairly hard door to open. Some F-22s came in after that to hold the door open, and the F-35s went back and picked up a strike train that consisted of [RAAF] Hornets, Super Hornets from the U.S. Navy, Typhoons from the [British] Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force F-16s, supported by U.S. Navy [EA-18G] Growlers and U.S. Air Force F-16s,” Kitcher said. “That was the first time I've been in a high-end exercise, involving a significant air threat, a significant surface-to-air threat and even a cyberthreat. You could see the way the F-35 was working with Classic Hornets, Super Hornets, Typhoons and Growlers to solve a very difficult problem. I'm confident that we'll be doing that in Australia with our F-35s and our Super Hornets and Growlers within the next couple of years.” Two RAAF F-35As from No. 3 Squadron were present at Avalon, and one of them participated in the daily flying display. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/avalon/2019/02/28/what-does-australia-think-of-the-f-35-one-air-force-commander-details-his-experience/
November 12, 2018 | International, C4ISR

TOP US INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL SUE GORDON WANTS SILICON VALLEY ON HER SIDE
SUE GORDON, THE principal deputy director of national intelligence, wakes up every day at 3 am, jumps on a Peloton, and reads up on all the ways the world is trying to destroy the United States. By the afternoon, she has usually visited the Oval Office and met with the heads of the 17 intelligence agencies to get threat reports. The self-described “chief operating officer of the intelligence community” has a lot to worry about, but the nearly-30-year veteran is generally optimistic about America's future. Now, she says, she just needs Silicon Valley to realize that tech and government don't have to be opposed. On a recent trip to Silicon Valley, Gordon sat down with WIRED to talk about how much government needs Silicon Valley to join the fight to keep the US safe. She was in town to speak at conference at Stanford, but also to convince tech industry leaders industry that despite increasing employee concerns, the government and tech have a lot of shared goals. “I had a meeting with Google where my opening bid was: ‘We're in the same business'. And they're like ‘What?' And I said: ‘Using information for good,'” Gordon says. That's a hard sell in Silicon Valley, especially in the post-Snowden years. After Snowden's leaks, tech companies and tech workers didn't want to be seen as complicit with a government that spied on its own people—a fact Gordon disputes, saying that any collection of citizen's information was incidental and purged by their systems. This led to a much-publicized disconnect between the two power centers, one that has only grown more entrenched and public in 2018, as Silicon Valley has undergone something of an ethical awakening. Gordon agrees with and supports a broader awareness that technology can be abused, but came to Silicon Valley to explain why government and tech should solve those problems hand in hand. Pairing Up Gordon knows from public-private partnerships. The CIA's venture capital accelerator In-Q-Tel—which for nearly 20 years has invested in everything from malware-detection software to biochemical sensors to micro-batteries—was Gordon's idea. Groundbreaking at its conception, In-Q-Tel directly funds startups that could be of interest to national security, without limits on how that money can be used, and without owning the intellectual property. Among other successful investments, In-Q-Tel backed a company called Keyhole, which Google would go on to acquire and turn into Google Earth. Full article: https://www.wired.com/story/sue-gordon-us-intelligence-public-private-google-amazon
November 2, 2023 | International, Aerospace

Bombardier third-quarter results beat on strong private jet demand, shares rise | Reuters
Canada's Bombardier reported third-quarter results on Thursday that beat analysts' estimates, helped by robust demand for its pricier business jets and aftermarket services, sending shares up 9% in morning trade.

All news