In order to deliver on the Australian government’s ambitious plans for future shipbuilding capability, the urgent task today is to develop a bridging strategy that delivers short term capability wins and boosts vital industrial capability. The plan presented in this paper does both - by...

Australia’s decision to join with the United States and the United Kingdom to build Australian long-range nuclear-powered submarines has little to do with the defence of Australia, writes Allan Behm.

In light of Australia’s climate commitments, it stands to reason that the creation of a nuclear-power sector ought to be revisited, writes Lesley Hughes.

The People’s Republic of China's (PRC) overseas investment in critical infrastructure poses a significant challenge to Australia and to other nations that don’t share China’s strategic interests. This report argues that Australia should adopt a whole-of-nation approach to safeguarding the resilience of critical infrastructure in...

This report proposes a way for the Australian government to acquire maritime war-fighting capability quickly and affordably while promoting Australian industry and the continuous Naval Shipbuilding Program.

This paper argues that as competition with China intensifies, future unmanned warfare can address key strategic and anti-access challenges for the United States, Australia and like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific.

The audit objective was to examine whether the Department of Defence has effective and efficient sustainment arrangements for the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of eight ANZAC class frigates.

The federal government is investing $90 billion in continuous naval shipbuilding, a longterm plan to create economic growth and thousands of jobs for generations to come. This discussion paper provides an overview of the workforce needs of the national naval shipbuilding enterprise and where the...

This paper analyzes the largest and most expensive procurement projects undertaken by either country, Canada’s $73 billion (estimated) National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), launched in 2010, and Australia’s A$90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Plan (NSP), launched in 2017. Each project represents an attempt to implement a rational...

This report argues that if American policymakers can make sound decisions about how to evolve the capabilities, operating concepts and posture of their armed forces, and embed these in sensible policies for the region, a balance of power can be sustained.

The ‘grey zone’ has received much publicity in recent years as certain nation-states have employed indirect methods to achieve advantage over their opponents without recourse to open kinetic warfare.

This paper advocates early consideration of all aspects of a transition to nuclear propulsion for Australia's submarines, based on compelling strategic and submarine capability arguments. While a nuclear-powered submarine force would provide strategic advantages, some quite formidable challenges would need to be overcome to add...

The transition from the Collins-class submarines to the future submarine fleet will be more complex than any previous capability transition that Defence has undergone. The submarine enterprise will be in constant transition, rather than completing a short, bounded transition process.

This publication illustrates how politics, technology, budgeting and the fallibility of human decision-making all intersect to make the defence capability development and acquisition business one of the most demanding of all public sector tasks.

National planning is vitally important for Australia's naval shipbuilding industry to sustain and consolidate its sovereign capability. The release of the naval shipbuilding plan attempted to formalise a long-term plan for the industry. However, further work is required to provide a more comprehensive and holistic...

China may already be building a ‘post-American navy’, one designed not to confront US naval predominance in the Pacific, but to inherit it as the US baulks at the increasing cost of continued regional leadership.

The federal government is close to making a decision on the $35 billion Future Frigate program. This paper sets out the issues the government will be taking into account and assesses each of the contenders against antisubmarine performance, project risk, industrial strategy and cost.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness to date of the Department of Defence's planning for the mobilisation of its continuous shipbuilding programs in Australia.

The proposed Quadrilateral Security Initiative 2.0 is an informal maritime alliance of the United States, India, Japan and Australia, which primarily involves co-operation in the Indo-Pacific.

The acquisition of offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) to replace the Australian Navy's Armidale-class patrol boats under Project SEA 1180 has attracted little scrutiny or comment. It deserves more.