Like oil and water, party politics and good defence policy are presumed not to mix. And the process to buy Australia’s next fleet of submarines has been all about party politics.
The French have defeated German and Japanese bids to win the $50 billion contract to build Australia’s 12 new submarines, which will be constructed in Adelaide.
There were significant differences between the three submarines on offer in the competitive evaluation process. Here’s what made the French sub stand out.
The principal consequence of Australia’s inevitable but little-debated decision to acquire submarines is to contribute to a rapidly escalating regional arms race.
Malcolm Turnbull will visit China this week in his first time there as prime minister. The two-day trip, including visits to Shanghai and Beijing, will juggle trade and political issues.
Autonomous submarines might do for naval warfare what drones are doing for air warfare. So should Australia consider autonomous subs as a replacement for the Collins class?
The defence white paper will pledge an additional $29.9 billion in defence spending over the coming decade and support for businesses to innovate in areas such as cyber security and aeronautics.
Australia looks set to continue to confront its core foreign policy dilemma: balancing relations between its largest trading partner, China, and its key security partners, the US and Japan.
North Korea does not yet have the capacity to launch a nuclear missile from a submarine. Its recent test, however, suggests it is making progress to a game-changing second-strike capability.
Cabinet’s national security committee last October favoured Australia’s new submarine fleet being mostly constructed overseas with the ASC having only limited work.
Days after announcing Australia’s largest ever defence contract will be awarded via a “competitive evaluation process”, the government is still scrambling for a sensible definition of what such a process…