Was probably inevitable:

Gurkhas on Bushmasters was not on my bingo card for Anzac Day yesterday:
http://images.defence.gov.au/S20231076

Also, the Australian Army has never been a Continental Army in the mould of European or American armies. The entire history of Australian armies is getting on and off boats in in exotic places. You'll often hear them argue that we don't need a Marine Corps because they are already doing that job (an...

Thanks R686, I thought the last one was the year before – seems like forever ago.

Re-shipbuilding, I still think they will only fiddle at the edges. Just no money. They may need to build up some reasons to cancel the OPV contract (and annoy the Germans), but that's all I reckon.

Don't think anything will change with regard to the SSN program. I mean it's only a month old and signed off upon by two major allies. They won't revisit that for a long time. Hunters are hard to reconfigure as well. The existing build is already locked in for a decade and the shipbuilding unions an...

It gets released on Monday. On the IFV decision, there are least two more election cycles before the production will be over, so there is time for a different government to make a different decision. A small chance, but not nothing. And they are being built in marginal electorates (which is why we h...

Good enough for this badass:

Yeah, the maritime union might make this decision for them quite soon.

Wheeled AFVs are cheaper to run and easier to train drivers for. The platforms suffer far less wear and tear from operations, and require less support when deploying and in the field. There is a case for the MRV(P) programme to be resurrected to provide additional platforms to mechanise Infantry ba...

The Kiwis visiting RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia, with their first aircraft, probably to make use of the various simulators. https://twitter.com/Benfeltondef/status/1640155930552832000?s=20 In March of 2023, the Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon aircraft visited RAAF Base Edinburgh for the...

Decent article. A lot of, "it's classified", but reasonable.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/t ... capable-of

Possible Tomahawk missile sale:

It does when you consider there are US components in British reactors. Rolls-Royce seems pretty sure so I daresay they have the right of it. There's no evidence of any US components in British nuclear reactors. Where are you getting this from? https://twitter.com/AlexLuck9/status/163552096937587916...

It does when you consider there are US components in British reactors. Rolls-Royce seems pretty sure so I daresay they have the right of it. There's no evidence of any US components in British nuclear reactors. Where are you getting this from? https://twitter.com/AlexLuck9/status/163552096937587916...

It does when you consider there are US components in British reactors. Rolls-Royce seems pretty sure so I daresay they have the right of it.

More of the briefing notes emerge:



Clears up my earlier query. Looks like a joint combat system, amongst other things.

It seems like this might be a very significant shift in defence strategy. Just as in 97 it was decided carriers were required for power projection it looks like the decision has been made that a shift to SSN is the answer to balancing power in the Pacific and asia. I wonder if the SSN AUKUS will al...

The politics of that just isn't there yet. There is no overwhelming public desire in Australia for civilian nuclear power or any other parts of the nuclear fuel cycle. Environmentalists going back 50 years or more have spooked the shit out of them. Plenty of people have tried to change that dynamic,...

There will be dedicated East and West submarine bases. Garden Island Western Australia will be the first, but there are plans to develop better facilities in the East. At present, they use Sydney Harbour facilities. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-12/port-kembla-firms-as-site-for-new-submarine-b...