In my last post, I considered the operational and technical challenges of Australia acquiring F-35B STOVL Joint Strike Fighters and operating them from the Canberra class LHDs. In an ideal budget environment, were the decision …
Search Results for "awd"
Last Tuesday’s Commonwealth budget saw a small increase in funding to the Australian Federal Police for next year. But the planned cuts to AFP in the years beyond are large—the Commonwealth contribution to their budget …
Welcome back to our weekly round-up of new reports, podcasts and other news in the defence, security and strategy world. Today’s headlining item is a timely exploration by Usman Hamid on New Mandala of the …
Maybe it’s because I’m a child of the 1960s, but for me ‘NASA’ is a synonym for ‘cool’. You can’t be a science-obsessed lad of six (yes, I was really that sad) in July of …
Unsurprisingly, it’s the big defence procurement decisions that make the headlines—whether it’s the choice about the future submarine or last week’s decision to acquire 58 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF). As the Australian Defence Force (ADF) …
Last week the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2149 (PDF), authorising the deployment of a peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic. As a current non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Australia …
Late last year, I gave some early impressions of the Australian National Audit Office’s Major Projects report. Today I’ll have a closer look at some of the data in the report, which will bring us …
It’s becoming something of an annual tradition that I get asked along to the Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) conference and get to be the token economic rationalist on Day 2. At an industry-focused conference, that’s …
While high profile Defence projects like the Joint Strike Fighter and future submarine have received plenty of coverage, much less has been written about LAND 400—a proposed $10 billion purchase of armoured land combat vehicles …
According to the Australian Industry Group (AIG), the headcount at the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) has grown three-fold over the past decade from 2,500 people to 7,500. Armed with this remarkable statistic, in their submission …
Evaluating Defence Minister Johnston’s address to ASPI’s national security dinner, my colleague Benjamin Schreer warns that pundits tend to over-analyse government statements. Then he dives into searching for markers of policy change. Let me do …
Last week General Motors Holden, spurred by some cavalier observations by federal government ministers, heralded the death-knell for the Australian automotive manufacturing industry. It’s been a long time coming but it’s a safe bet that …