Asia Pacific Defence Reporter APDR

Episode 50 but there’s no time for self-congratulations because there’s more Defence incompetence to talk about – and top of the list is the General Purpose Frigate. In this country we are told nothing, but speaking in the UK the Head of RAN Capability explained that, yes, we will be purchasing an existing design with no changes whatsoever. None. However, this new design is also expected to comply with Australian regulations and be compatible with existing Australian and allied combat systems. In other words, this is impossible. You cannot have a ship built for another navy and for it to also be fully compliant with Australian standards – it cannot be done and people arguing to the contrary clearly have zero project management experience. Also we unpack the smearing of Luerssen and the disgraceful rumours peddled by the RAN to cover up their own failures. There is a way to fix the capability gap – build corvettes based on the Arafura design that will have 80% Australian content with the first ship delivered from Henderson in 2026.


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In this episode we have a bit more to say about the ridiculous levels of secrecy surrounding military projects in this country. In comparison, the US tries to be helpful, as evidenced by a couple of recent visits, including by Lieutenant General Steven Sklenka from the Marine Corps. Also a look at the recently passed Securing Australia’s Military Secrets (SAMS) legislation, which is obviously written by lawyers who don’t know what they are doing. No wonder so few people want to join the ADF. And another Kingo Hotel Friday lunchtime rumour: the project to equip Australia’s armoured vehicles with active protection systems has been scrapped because of budget issues. After recording this there is news about the General Purpose Frigate – the government has released something called an Approach To Industry, but has given companies an insanely short 3 week period to reply. More on this in the next episode.


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Last week saw the release of the Federal Budget, the Defence component of which has not received a lot of media attention, probably because the Integrated Investment Plan was released a fortnight earlier. But there were some gems, such as the data that the spend for acquiring nuclear-powered submarines will total $13.6 billion over the next four years. That’s before a single submarine is delivered. It is likely to include a gift of about $8 billion to US and UK industries. There’s also the curious case of SEA 3000, the General Purpose Frigate project, which isn’t even mentioned. Speaking of which, the concept of Minimum Viable Capability and taking something “as is” from a parent shipyard looks flakier by the second. A few words about the conviction of whistleblower David McBride. The sentence looks harsh and will deter other whistleblowers – and Australia’s oppressive secrecy laws need to change.
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We start with a retrospective chat about the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the USSR and the corrosive effects of secrecy and cover ups. 
Australia is thankfully not like the Soviet Union – far from it – but the government management of information about Defence and national security is becoming increasingly paranoid, self-destructive and harmful. 
It is now routine for all media requests to be totally ignored by the Department and for Ministers to propagate an entirely false picture of the status of the ADF – and in particular ignore the consequences of trying to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. 
This goes right to the top – including Ministers and senior military figures – who rather than provide useful information rely instead on cheap appeals to patriotism. This is irrational and harmful. 
Thankfully there are some positive examples from the U.S. about how the dissemination of information could, and should, occur.

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An industry source has described the General Purpose Frigate project as a “goat rodeo”, but before we get to that a few words about the cancellation of SEA 1905. This was the latest RAN effort to improve mine warfare capabilities – and after 5 years of effort on the part of three bidders has been abruptly cancelled. No reason has been given but it looks to be because Australia will soon transfer $4.7 billion to profitable US submarine construction companies. However, mine warfare is a vital capability, particularly if you hope to operate nuclear-powered submarines. A few words about the IIP – and the big takeaway is that funding is only available for the new submarines and general purpose frigates. This means Navy will receive 38% of the acquisition budget – more than Army, RAAF and Cyber combined. Finally the Luerssen corvette offer – and someone has to find out why it was apparently ignored by the Independent Review into the surface fleet. It’s the only way of rapidly delivering capability with all ships constructed at Henderson with an existing Australian supply chain giving 80% local content.
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First some good news – an extra $100 million of military aid for Ukraine. It’s not enough and Australia could be doing a lot more, but at least it’s a move in the right direction. Next – the unfolding disaster of the General Purpose Frigate project. Some acquisitions are doomed from the very beginning and this is one of them. Firstly, the highly paid independent reviewers of the RAN future surface fleet couldn’t even get it right about how many designs from Korea are available. Secondly, the Minimum Viable Capability philosophy might force the RAN to buy ships that are incompatible with every other class because there will not be enough time to include CEA radars and the Saab 9LV combat management system. Also we make another unsuccessful attempt to shed light on how the impending $4.7 billion transfer to US submarine manufacturers was calculated. Does no one care? It’s wrecking the Australian Defence budget.
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