Since ASPI was established in 2002, the annual Cost of Defence has delivered 3,579 pages on defence budgeting and management. In total, that’s something like a million words, plus several thousand charts and tables. Most …
Articles by: "Mark Thomson"
Way back when, we started our professional lives in theoretical physics. And sometimes it shows; we’ve never met a data set we didn’t like, and from time to time there’s an outbreak of ‘let’s see …
We now have our third Defence White Paper in less than seven years. In the preceding quarter century we managed only four. The reduced shelf life of recent White Papers reflects—in part—volatility at the top. …
I’ve been trying to understand the government’s policy on defence industry. Having read the recent Defence Industry Policy Statement (DIPS) it seemed straightforward, but then I looked closely at the Prime Minister’s recent announcement about …
Just as knowing what Santa is going to bring you takes some of the fun out of Christmas morning, last night’s budget was pretty unexciting from a defence perspective. With one small wrinkle, the government …
It’s all but certain that the government will make good on its white paper funding commitment in tomorrow’s Budget. With the fanfare of the submarine and frigate announcements still echoing, it would be political suicide …
The government’s recent decision to split the production of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) has been met with a mix of delight and dismay. Delight by those with an interest in the shipyards in Adelaide SA …
The Australian newspaper has lately been running an editorial line (paywalled) about moves within the Department of Defence to increase diversity within the department, and especially within the ADF. Under the subtitle ‘Security must not …
Last week we wrote about the transition from the Collins class to the future submarine. Among other things, we pointed out that there’s a tight relationship between the delivery tempo, the maintenance cycle of the …
The 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP) announced that the Future Submarine will be delivered under a ‘rolling acquisition program’. Initially we assumed this meant that submarines would be produced continuously under the same sort of …
This year’s Defence White Paper was accompanied by a document entitled 2016 Integrated Investment Plan (IIP) (PDF), which claims to bring together ‘for the first time’ the following: Unapproved Major Capital Investment Program Approved Major …
Back in mid-February, we were in India for the 2016 Quad Plus Dialogue as guests of the Vivekananda International Foundation. This was the third event in a series that kicked off in Canberra in 2013. …