The numbers tell the story - next year the defence budget will fall in real terms by 10.5%, the largest year‐on‐year reductions since the end of the Korean conflict in 1953. As a result, defence spending as a share of GDP will fall to 1.56%, the smallest figure recorded by Australia since the eve of...

This paper quantifies Australia's submarine capability under different options. The Defence White Paper of 2009 promised to deliver Force 2030, which had as its centrepiece a force of twelve new highly capable long range submarines. That’s not going to happen. One way or another, Force 2030 will have a submarine fleet that is a compromise...

Times are relatively good for Australia. While the rest of the developed world grapples with crippling debts and the most pervasive economic malaise since the Great Depression, Australia enjoys the warm glow of low public debt, 5% unemployment and the prospect of 'trend' economic growth. While many factors have helped shelter Australia from the economic...

Providing the ADF with state of the art equipment can be a challenging business. Sometimes the world market can provide a proven solution with the right level of capability, but often that isn't the case. Then it's a matter of either accepting a more modest level of performance or going down the path of developing...

The ADF's current force posture is the result of a series of decisions made when the world was quite different from today. It's therefore appropriate to have another look at the match of resources to strategic need. But ultimately, any future decision to move sizeable ADF force elements—especially to remote locations—would have to be based...