{"id":62427,"date":"2021-02-11T15:21:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T04:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=62427"},"modified":"2021-02-16T15:02:33","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T04:02:33","slug":"whats-up-with-the-royal-australian-navys-weapons-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whats-up-with-the-royal-australian-navys-weapons-program\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s up with the Royal Australian Navy\u2019s weapons program?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last month, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds put out a media release<\/a> announcing a boost to Australia\u2019s maritime security. Its focus was the navy\u2019s weapons program. The announcement had a medley of numbers\u2014a $1 billion investment in weapons, a $24 billion investment in weapons, a $75 billion investment in maritime capability and a $183 billion naval shipbuilding plan. It also referred to a broad range of weapons: long-range anti-ship and extended range surface-to-air missiles; advanced lightweight torpedos; and maritime land strike missiles with a 1,500-kilometre range. There were also mentions of the \u2018early development of advanced guided weapons\u2019 and \u2018opportunities to broaden Australia\u2019s weapons manufacturing base\u2019.<\/p>\n

One might be forgiven for thinking that the government had agreed to design and manufacture a range of highly capable maritime weapons here in Australia. So, what\u2019s really going on?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the numbers. A couple of figures in the announcement are straightforward. The $75 billion is the 2020 force structure plan\u2019s<\/a> figure (page 35) for acquisition and sustainment spending on new maritime capability over the next decade. The $183 billion is the number that the government and the Defence Department are now using for the cost of the naval shipbuilding program. That\u2019s swelled from the original $89 billion due to the addition of new projects as well as substantial adjustments to the costs attributed publicly to the future submarine and future frigate programs.<\/p>\n

According to Tony Dalton, Defence\u2019s deputy secretary for naval shipbuilding, speaking at the Australian Defence Magazine\u2019s recent annual congress, an updated naval shipbuilding and sustainment plan will soon be released with more detail on what makes up that $183 billion. As a side note, Dalton recently stated that even very large ships such as the future logistics and replenishment ships will be built in Australia at the Henderson shipyard.<\/p>\n

The $24 billion covers the navy\u2019s maritime weapons program. The integrated investment program<\/a> that accompanied the 2016 defence white paper had a number of funding lines for maritime guided weapons, including:<\/p>\n