Posts tagged as:

Australia

Mulling Australia’s Next Submarine:

by admin on March 16, 2016

Australia has happily discovered that, for high-end subs, this is a buyer’s market. In Australia’s Collins Class Replacement Project (SEA 1000), eager German, French and Japanese sub venders are offering some top-tier submarine models for some pretty good terms. With all three platforms technically “solid”, I won’t go into technical differences here (look anywhere else […]

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To Sell U.S. Combatants Overseas–Follow the French!

by admin on July 31, 2014

U.S. naval ship vendors could learn a thing or two from the French, as they’ve thusfar fought off extensive American efforts to intrude on France’s niche market in small surface combatants. It’s almost embarrassing.  Despite American efforts to sell the Littoral Combat Ship, the French Gowind-Class corvette “family of ships” has quietly taken big bites […]

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Make Asian Hotlines A Regional Diplomatic Priority:

by admin on February 8, 2014

The U.S. Navy’s desire for a direct Navy-to-Navy Hotline with China is not new, and has been articulated every few years to little or no effect. If direct Navy-to-Navy Hotlines between operational commanders have the potential to be important in Asian crisis management, then the U.S. Navy must start leading an effort to 1) make […]

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Australia buys the Bay!

by Craig Hooper on April 9, 2011

Sometimes a deal is just so good, you’ve just gotta take it. Australia’s announcement that it will buy the the UK’s soon-to-be-redundant LHD Largs Bay for $100 million Australian dollars (@$105 USD at present rates) must have government minsters in a gleeful state. Even if the Largs Bay has serious problems, at this price, it’s […]

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An Inspiring Mistake: Australia’s turn from mid-sized amphibs

by Craig Hooper on February 7, 2011

It is no secret the Australian Navy is super-sizing their amphibious force. But…is that force going to be too big and unwieldy to do a good job of projecting security throughout the South Pacific? The first step towards a super-sized amphibious force is interesting. Last month, after I urged the Australian Navy to retire their […]

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Australia’s Amphibs: Retire the old stuff and experiment!

by Craig Hooper on January 14, 2011

Australia has three creaky old amphibious vessels, the HMAS Tobruk, HMAS Kanimbla and HMAS Manoora. They are scheduled to retire over the next 8 years to be replaced in 2014-15 by the Canberra Class LHDs. Australia’s legacy amphibs are, at this point, feeble, unreliable platforms. They’ve done yeoman service, but, in September, the Kanimbla an […]

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In the Pacific, the F-35B debacle is a strategic nightmare

by Craig Hooper on November 17, 2010

So here’s where we learn that fluffing up a balky, poorly-managed defense procurement program has serious geopolitical consequences. What happens in Asia if the F-35B program collapses? Well, it could get pretty ugly. For a lot of Asian Navies, the F-35B offers the only viable means to match China’s first steps into carrier aviation. As […]

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