These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers h...
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.
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19:04
Episode 73
The SEA 3000 General Purpose Frigate shortlist has been confirmed and unsurprisingly the leaked information is correct – it’s Germany and Japan. But obviously it couldn’t be that simple, so two designs from Thyssenkrupp will be evaluated and one from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. However, the MHI ship the Mogami FFM has not yet been built, with the first to be delivered in 2027. This would seem to indicate it is already in breach of Defence guidelines,, which are for an existing design. But it’s even worse, with Chief of Navy telling Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy that the RAN is happy to take any combat system, throwing 30 years of work standardising around the Saab 9LV CMS into the bin. Then another sad story of an exceptional Australian company DroneShield selling its leading edge counter drone technology all around the world – just not in Australia. Instead, for a perimeter security requirement the RAAF recently awarded a $30 million contract to Anduril, the US company funded by tech billionaires. It’s enough to make one scream, along with a few other topics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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19:45
Episode 72
First some unfinished business from the Submarine Institute of Australia conference. The Chief of Navy asks why aren’t there more positive stories about Collins submarines? The reason is quite simple: because you won’t tell us anything. This goes for the other services as well – you cannot complain about lack of coverage if you deliberately suppress the release of information. That’s something that Defence Minister Richard Marles knows well. It’s the definition of hypocrisy: say you are in favour of communicating with the Australian public and then obstruct journalists from doing their job. Some words about the new Trump administration starting to take shape and the surprisingly large amount of publicity about our current Ambassador – and former Labor PM – Kevin Rudd. Deciding who the Australian Ambassador should be is a decision for us – not anyone else. As for the eternal bonds of friendship between the US and Australia – when Trump was last President he didn’t even bother appointing an Ambassador here until the end of his term. That’s a clear indication of the importance Trump attaches to Australia. None. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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19:37
Episode 71
Our previous analysis of the US Presidential election was wrong – and by a wide margin. Obviously there’s a huge level of anger, resentment and frustration in the American system. Donald Trump has won a bigger victory than in 2016 – and the consequences for Australia are unknown. Any Australian politician assuming it’s business as usual runs the risk of making a major mistake. What do we do if Donald Trump jacks up the cost of acquiring nuclear-powered submarines by a lot? Has anyone in Defence or the government thought through those consequences? And please don’t say it could never happen. A quick summary of SEA 3000 – and it’s between Germany and Japan. Then the Submarine Institute of Australia conference where Chief of Navy mistakenly re-read his 2023 speech and during which journalists were told they would be kicked out of the venue if they approached anyone at morning tea to say hello. The Virginia class program is in big trouble because of supply chain issues – but you will never hear that from an Australian official. Finally, Army’s campaign of deception about the performance of Black Hawk helicopters continues. Someone has to put a stop to this outrage – it’s wrong at every possible level. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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19:17
Episode 70
We start with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy at the NPC last week and lots of stuff about extra missiles for the ADF. That’s all well and good – but these things are either fully imported or, at best, manufactured under license here with a few local components. There are no longer any sovereign Australian IP in weapons – we seem to have collectively given up on the idea of designing any ourselves. The latest from the mess that is AUKUS Pillar One. Then a few words about the shock cancellation of JP9102. There goes the last chance of any form of sovereign satellite communications capability – it’s back to bad old days of having to go cap in hand to the US for some bandwidth – and then being charged a fortune for it. Finally, the shortlist for SEA 3000 the General Purpose Frigates approaches – and golly gosh what an unmitigated disaster this project is. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers have a right to know what’s going on. But it’s even worse than that with Defence sometimes putting out information that is misleading and in some cases plain wrong. We discuss the Defence Strategic Review and debunk the claims that it is some sort of radical and positive move. No it is not. We also have a few words about the outrageous decision to purchase the SURTASS towed array sonar via FMS and preview the ANAO report into the Hunter class frigate program. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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