{"id":68017,"date":"2021-10-22T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=68017"},"modified":"2021-10-21T17:04:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T06:04:00","slug":"aukus-is-about-collaboration-not-captivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aukus-is-about-collaboration-not-captivity\/","title":{"rendered":"AUKUS is about collaboration, not captivity"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

\u2018When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2014 Edmund Burke, \u2018Thoughts on the cause of present discontents\u2019, 1770<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The only surprising thing about AUKUS\u00a0is\u00a0that it has taken so long to be formalised.\u00a0For\u00a0more than a century, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have worked together to protect shared values and improve the\u00a0security and wellbeing\u00a0of people\u00a0around the world. We have been natural allies and we have stood together in the face of\u00a0totalitarian coercion, oppression and force.<\/p>\n

We must never forget\u00a0that freedom and respect for the rights of the individual\u00a0are\u00a0not universally accepted as a global good. The intolerance and oppression of totalitarian power were not\u00a0eliminated\u00a0following\u00a0the defeat of Nazi Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union or the disintegration of the Islamic State\u2019s so-called caliphate.<\/p>\n

The 2020 defence strategic update makes\u00a0it\u00a0clear that Australia\u2019s\u00a0strategic\u00a0environment is changing\u00a0as both military\u00a0and grey-zone threats evolve\u00a0at unprecedented rates. Democratic nations are witnessing the most consequential strategic realignment since World War\u00a0II and\u00a0are increasing their collaboration in response.<\/p>\n

AUKUS\u00a0has been\u00a0described as \u2018epoch-making\u2019 and \u2018the biggest strategic step Australia has taken in generations\u2019. Given the headlines and commentary, however, it will come as a surprise to\u00a0many\u00a0that AUKUS is not predominantly about submarines.<\/p>\n

Certainly,\u00a0eight nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy will be a potent and effective deterrent that will contribute to the maintenance of\u00a0security within the\u00a0established global norms that have benefited all nations in\u00a0the Indo-Pacific over past decades.\u00a0But as one commentator has rightly pointed out, \u2018the bigger picture is getting lost in a sea of\u00a0naval analysis\u2019.<\/p>\n

The real\u00a0value\u00a0of this partnership lies in the joint\u00a0development of capabilities and the deeper integration of defence-related science\u00a0and\u00a0technology, industrial bases and,\u00a0importantly,\u00a0supply chains.<\/p>\n

This new trilateral security partnership will work towards making each partner\u00a0more capable\u00a0and more resilient. AUKUS\u00a0complements,\u00a0rather than competes with,\u00a0regional\u00a0partnerships\u00a0such as the Quad\u00a0and intelligence-sharing arrangements\u00a0such as\u00a0the Five Eyes.<\/p>\n

Critics\u00a0of the government\u00a0have raised questions about what\u00a0AUKUS\u00a0will mean for Australia\u2019s capacity to make sovereign decisions. They\u00a0point to\u00a0nuclear submarines\u00a0to suggest that\u00a0such\u00a0technological dependence on the US\u00a0will diminish\u00a0Australia\u2019s\u00a0sovereign\u00a0ability to act in its national interest.<\/p>\n

Perhaps these critics are\u00a0unaware\u00a0of the facts, but more likely\u00a0they have embraced\u00a0historical amnesia for the sake of short-term political gain\u00a0and\u00a0are choosing to ignore the\u00a0record of\u00a0partnership between Australia, the US and the UK. An exemplar is air combat capability.<\/p>\n

During World War II, Australia\u2019s only locally designed and manufactured fighter, the Boomerang, was powered by a\u00a0US-designed Pratt & Whitney engine. Royal Australian Air Force pilots stood a better chance of survival and victory in the Pacific theatre when flying the British Spitfire or the American\u00a0P-40\u00a0Kittyhawk. The P-51 Mustang, which provided Australia\u2019s air combat capability through until the Korean War, was a US design\u00a0powered by the\u00a0UK\u2019s Rolls Royce\u00a0Merlin engine.\u00a0In today\u2019s RAAF,\u00a0the F-35 can hardly be considered to be Australian-designed or -controlled technology, nor can the\u00a0F\/A-18F Super Hornet, P-8A Poseidon and many others. The Loyal Wingman remotely piloted aircraft is as close as we get to Australian-owned\u00a0air combat\u00a0technology, but even then, Boeing, a US company,\u00a0is the manufacturer.<\/p>\n

Whether at the tactical, technical or strategic level,\u00a0history shows that the\u00a0government\u00a0can and does\u00a0make sovereign decisions\u00a0in Australia\u2019s national interests\u00a0despite a high level of technological reliance on the US and UK.<\/p>\n

During Operation\u00a0Slipper and related deployments to the Middle East, Australia made its own decisions on rules of engagement even though Australian forces were operating alongside the US and other partners. Australia made the unilateral decision to\u00a0enhance\u00a0the\u00a0capability of its\u00a0US-made\u00a0CH-47D\u00a0helicopters\u00a0prior to\u00a0sending them\u00a0to Afghanistan.\u00a0After buying the US Navy\u2019s F\/A-18 Hornet, we chose to\u00a0integrate the UK ASRAAM\u00a0in preference to the standard\u00a0US\u00a0AIM-9 short-range air-to-air missile.<\/p>\n

The history\u00a0between the three parties\u00a0in\u00a0AUKUS\u00a0validates this observation\u00a0of independent action\u00a0more broadly. In 1958, Britain acquired nuclear technology for its submarines from the Americans. Shortly thereafter, the US requested that Britain commit troops to the Vietnam War. However, UK Prime Minister Wilson refused, instead offering in-principle support for the war but not\u00a0a\u00a0military\u00a0commitment.\u00a0During that period, Australia operated French Mirage III fighters and British Oberon-class submarines but, unlike the UK, decided that the national interest was served by supporting\u00a0South Vietnam.\u00a0The UK\u00a0and Australia\u00a0have\u00a0both\u00a0remained committed and reliable allies\u00a0of the United States, while\u00a0maintaining\u00a0sovereignty\u00a0over the deployment and use of military capability.<\/p>\n

To understand why AUKUS is so important, you only have to consider the lessons of Covid-19\u00a0around\u00a0supply-chain resilience and the assessment of\u00a0threat in\u00a0the defence strategic update, which calls for Australia to be capable to shape our region, deter aggression and respond with military force if required.<\/p>\n

The ability to deter aggression in our region will be enhanced by the agreement to provide the Australian Defence Force with a range of precision-guided\u00a0missiles, particularly long-range strike weapons that can hold an adversary at risk.\u00a0Maintaining regional security, however, requires the ability not just\u00a0to\u00a0deploy\u00a0military force\u00a0when\u00a0required, but to sustain operations. This requires resilient supply chains, which will be enhanced by the decision to accelerate the manufacture\u00a0of\u00a0precision-guided\u00a0missiles\u00a0in Australia.<\/p>\n

Returning to air combat for an example,\u00a0AMRAAM\u00a0is the key air-to-air\u00a0missiles\u00a0currently certified for use\u00a0on aircraft operated by Australia,\u00a0the\u00a0US\u00a0and other partners such as Japan, South Korea\u00a0and Singapore.\u00a0The US also has commitments to supply AMRAAM to partners in Europe and the Middle East. The capacity to replenish war stocks will therefore be limited in the event of a major or concurrent conflict, and an alternate manufacturing base will be key to ensuring resilient supply chains\u00a0in any near-term conflict. AUKUS should underpin\u00a0an agreement for Australia to develop the local capability in partnership with the AMRAAM manufacturer Raytheon\u00a0to make and supply the missiles for our own and our allies\u2019 use.<\/p>\n

AUKUS does not make Australia captive to a foreign agenda. Instead, it opens doors to enhanced collaboration that will build collective capability and resilience, enhancing Australia\u2019s ability to partner with like-minded nations to deter threats and contribute to stability and security in the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.\u2019 \u2014 Edmund Burke, \u2018Thoughts on the cause of present discontents\u2019, 1770 The only …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":68030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3111,56,2397],"class_list":["post-68017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-aukus","tag-indo-pacific","tag-us-alliances"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAUKUS is about collaboration, not captivity | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aukus-is-about-collaboration-not-captivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AUKUS is about collaboration, not captivity | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018When bad men combine, the good must associate; 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