Dumb Ways to Buy: Defence “shambles” unveiled – former submariner and senator Rex Patrick

[dimsum]

Sound familiar?

Dumb Ways to Buy: Defence "shambles" unveiled - former submariner and senator Rex Patrick - Michael West

"The AUKUS nuclear submarine project will bleed the Australian Defence Force white", on top of the billions in annual Defence spending waste

michaelwest.com.au

 

[RDBZ]

Some counterbalancing perspectives.

If the AH-64E procurement runs to schedule, the Tigres will have seen 25 years of ADF service. Other platforms have been operated longer, but only after extensive upgrade programs. It will be similar for the NH90s once a contract is inked for their replacement.

The MQ-9 Sky Guardian program probably was always going to be vulnerable once the ADF began to focus more on conflicts with peer adversaries, and technologies like the DefendTex Drone40 and similar became a reality. How often do all these types of factors line up neatly with procurement program timetables though?

The C-27J fleet has been pretty active across the region, more than the C-130s or C-17s.

The decision by the US to share nuclear propulsion technology with Aus would have sealed the fate of any conventional submarine program, regardless of where the vendor was from. South Korea's issues with their German designed type 214s illustrate the complexity of any submarine program.

 

[dimsum]

Some counterbalancing perspectives.

Have the Tigres been actually used operationally though? I didn't think they left Australia - I don't think they were used in Afghanistan.

 

[RDBZ]

They've never been deployed outside Aus, but the same can be said for the M1A1s, and upgraded M113s.