Over the next decade, the Australian Government is planning to acquire seven MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft, which will operate alongside between eight and 12 manned P-8A Poseidons. Together, they’ll replace the RAAF’s 18 …
On 31 May, yet another Australian FMS purchase approval was listed on the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) website. This new sale is for ‘up to eighty (80) Standard Missiles, SM-2 Block IIIB’, as …
The volume of traffic travelling through Australia’s maritime approaches—along with a diversifying threat environment—is putting ever-increasing strain on border security assets. In the coming years, Maritime Border Command will come under pressure to capture, filter, …
This piece is drawn from ASPI’s Agenda for Change 2016: strategic choices for the next government. During the next term of government, a number of possible contingencies may arise that would require the deployment of …
The first batch of three River-class OPVs (HMS Tyne, Severn and Mersey) were ordered for the Royal Navy in April of 2001, built in Southampton, and commissioned in the second half of 2003. A fourth, …
For the past few years, Andrew Davies has examined the annual USAF budget projections for the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (most recently here). The F-35A will be the most numerous of the three variants of …
The 2016 Defence White Paper mentions ‘unmanned’ systems 15 times. The accompanying Integrated Investment Plan (IIP) [pdf] has 39 references. The government has clear ambitions to purchase UAVs for maritime surveillance and airborne strike, with …
The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is holding an inquiry into the planned acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter). ASPI has had a keen interest in this project for over …
The Battle of the Beams was a period during World War II concerning German attempts to harness radio navigation for night bombing in the UK and the resulting British countermeasures. The British eventually managed to …
The Beat Predictive policing Interested in how big data can help law enforcement? A new article from City Journal, ‘Big data on the beat’, discusses how technology and big data can anticipate and prevent crime. …
Sea State The US Department of Defense has confirmed that the USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea on 30 January, sailing within 12 nautical miles of Triton …
The Beat Europol banding together to fight Daesh Europol has launched a new counterterrorism centre in the wake of the Paris attacks. In anticipation of more terrorist attacks occurring across Europe, the new centre will …