Australia

[JALU3]

Underdefended?

Originally Posted by Cameron Stewart

Our defenceless force


IF there were a moment when the fragile relationship between Joel Fitzgibbon and the defence establishment finally snapped, it might have been the surprise attack the minister launched on his own flock in Brisbane last October.
On that day Fitzgibbon did what previous defence ministers have rarely done: he gave his own defence force a blunt public spray about its big-picture priorities and its lack of preparedness for battle. Fitzgibbon was angry about not having the option of deploying the army's Black Hawk helicopters into Afghanistan. The minister had been taking political heat over an inadequate number of NATO medical evacuation choppers available for Australian troops at their base in Tarin Kowt, in Oruzgan province.
"If we do see a strategic and tactical justification for sending Black Hawks to Afghanistan tomorrow, we would be unable to do so as they lack the electronic warfare self-protection they require," Fitzgibbon lamented. "We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about important capability as we look far out into the future, but we seem to spend much less time talking about the capability we need to do the things we do right now and on a regular basis."

Link to Source

So what now Australia?

[UnderseaLcpl]

I don't know enough to offer a considered opinion on what Australia should do about this, but I do wonder why they don't simply reduce the size of their military budget and focus on downsizing/modernizing the forces they have. It isn't as if anyone wants to invade Australia (or ever really has) and the U.S. maintains a significant presence in SE Asia.
Couldn't those funds be better directed towards economic development? Perhaps at making more of the country arable?
Well, it isn't like I would know anyway. Just taking shots in the dark, here.


One thing did catch my eye, though.

The army also has a shortage of blue force tracking transponders, which allow friendly forces to know where our troops are and help avoid friendly-fire incidents. This would limit the number of elements we could deploy into a coalition environment.

Does anyone know if they have actually made that thing work the way its' supposed to yet? The last time I used one was in 06' and it didn't work worth a damn then. Good idea, poor implementation.

[A Very Super Market]

No one wants to invade Australia?

I dunno, those New Zealanders are running out of space...

[Tchocky]

*mandatory joke about sheep*

[Torplexed]

It's my understanding that New Zealand has pretty much disbanded their air force in terms of strike capability. It's pretty much down to just search and rescue, maritime patrol and transport. Almost all of the RNZAF's fighter pilots have left New Zealand to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Things must be quiet down under.

[Jimbuna]

Looks like the cons are going down a similar route to the mother country

<awaiting TJ's response>

[Frame57]

Hey! I hear the Kangaroos outnumber the men 5 to 1. Ripe for the pickin....

[UnderseaLcpl]

Oh! I just thought of a great reason someone might want to conquer Australia; Just think of all the criminals you could store there!

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

It's my understanding that New Zealand has pretty much disbanded their air force in terms of strike capability. It's pretty much down to just search and rescue, maritime patrol and transport. Almost all of the RNZAF's fighter pilots have left New Zealand to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Things must be quiet down under.

Yep correct. Even our soldiers in Afghanistan are just on re-construction i think thats the name they call it, where Kiwis are there for one thing only to help rebuild/protect. Same for iraq. Iraq's a little different though as kiwis can make lots of money from iraqi. A ex truckie mate spent 12 months in iraq as a bodyguard for private company (he only was a territorial soldier here in NZ meaning he only was in the army for 6 months! But he could fire a gun and do a little arm to arm combat). Came home a very rich man. Thanks GWB.

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by A Very Super Market

No one wants to invade Australia?

I dunno, those New Zealanders are running out of space...

Japs 'll get 'yeh.

[bookworm_020]

Invade??? No, the Chinese will buy us out!

[SpeedyPC]

Mmmmmmmm Kangaroo meat yum yum remind me in Queensland.

[baggygreen]

Lance - we can't really afford to downsize any smaller than we already are. As it is, of our fleet of 6 subs only 2 have enough crew to get to sea with anything resembling regularity. We have what, 40 abrams tanks? <100 fighters, even fewer bombers, and only a couple of ships capable of transporting any real body of troops.

What needs to happen, first of all, is fitzgibbon be sacked, and the current govt have everything gone through with a fine toothed comb. The defence minister knowingly lied to the country about trips and other gifts from a woman who is close enough to the chinese govt to be of concern, and she has ties to many many other politicians, particularly in the ruling ALP.

After that, fitzsy's replacement needs to take a big heavy stick to the department - cut funds and make people make projects happen, else face the threat of cancellation. This will save money on the budget, and we might start seeing things completed on time and have it resemble somethine the project initally looked like!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Oh! I just thought of a great reason someone might want to conquer Australia; Just think of all the criminals you could store there!

Now why didn't I think of that

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Oh! I just thought of a great reason someone might want to conquer Australia; Just think of all the criminals you could store there!

Been there done that.

Back on topic though are we under defended? Probably but that depends on the threats we are facing. With the exception of Indonesia none of our very near neighbours has a significant fighting force of their own and largely rely on Australian forces to help them out when they need assistance: East Timor, Solomons etc. So looking at the threats being posed at the moment I'd say we are not underdefended.

Given the small population and the large land mass, we could nver properly defend all of our territory against a determined foe.

We spend about 2% of GDP on defense which puts us 13th in the world for military spending and 68th in terms of spending as a % of GDP.

What irks me is when the guys in charge of spending the money screw up:

Collins class subs systems and marine engineering that took years to fix and screwed the reputation of the subs for some years beyond the fixes.

Sea Sprite Helo's which have not worked since they were bought in 1997 (first one delivered in 2003) and we are now in negotiations to end the contract which wasn't going to get a fully operational helo until some time in 2010!

The cost of new Tiger helicopters went from $500 million to $1 billion, and new Aegis destroyers are going from $3 billion to $6 billion. This is real money. My money and I want value for it not fluff and screw ups that take years to fix!

And the government is talking tough about cutting spending. http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...-spending.aspx