Introduction The Australian Government intends to acquire land-based strike capabilities in the 2020s. While these sorts of capabilities are not new to many of the armies of the world, they signify a distinct shift in the character of the Australian Army, which has lacked a long-range strike capability (at least since the end of the...

Overview Australians have strong views on where Australia’s next submarines should be built, with the latest Lowy Institute polling finding that 70% of Australian adults want the submarines ‘built mainly in Australia, even if this will cost us more’. Only 26% say ‘the submarines should be built at the best possible price, even if this...

The 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP 2016), released in February this year, was the third such document in a little under seven years—a notably shorter interval than has been the case since the release of the first back in 1976.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull claims the previous Labor government let defence spending, measured as a share of GDP, fall to pre-World War II levels.

Overview The building of Australia’s fleet of future submarines is likely to be the largest defence program in this country’s history. It will cost tens of billions of dollars and will run for decades. So it’s little wonder that it’s a recurring topic of interest on the pages of ASPI’s blog The Strategist. Our contributors...