The Quad partners often discuss the Indo-Pacific, but they hold differing views on what exactly it is. That disparity has tangible effects, such as Australia’s diminished interest in piracy in the western Indian Ocean compared with its Quad partners. While China consistently demonstrates interest...
The strategic potential of Submarine Rotational Force-West, the AUKUS initiative that commits the United States and United Kingdom to forward-deploy a small flotilla of nuclear-powered attack submarines to HMAS Stirling, near Fremantle, isn’t adequately appreciated. Fortunately, history has set an instructive if insufficiently known precedent. During World War II, from a precarious start, Fremantle was […]
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The vulnerability of Australia’s trade routes to military coercion was highlighted by both last year’s Defence Strategic Update and by government commentary on the rationale for AUKUS. In his critique of ASPI’s new report, The trade routes vital to Australia’s economic security, Richard Dunley...
Harold Macmillan was supposedly once asked what the most troubling problem of his time as British Prime Minister was. “Events, my dear boy, events,” was his reply. I thought I had this week’s column nailed well in advance, but offshore is an industry especially susceptible to unexpected and hard to predict “events”. So, we must […]
The post COLUMN | Correcting course: Aramco and jackups; Siem Offshore and Kristian Siem; Ferguson Marine; MMA Offshore; Maersk/Svitzer [Offshore Accounts] appeared...
It’s a mark of our turbulent times that China’s dangerous and illegal actions against the Philippines at the Second Thomas Shoal currently only sit in the second tier of international security headaches confronting the United States and allies such as Australia. It’s worth stating the obvious...
“Nuclear energy is an extraordinary asset whose full potential we need to untap if we are to keep climate change in check.” – Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency About 20 years ago, a seat-warming senator came out of hiding and declared his thought...
If push comes to shove between China and the United States, Australia’s international trade with Asia is at risk of becoming collateral damage. The sea routes through Indonesia and to Asia around the east of Papua New Guinea account for 90 per cent of Australia’s sea-borne exports and 83 per cent...
While helping negotiate the AUKUS agreement with the United States and Britain as defence minister in 2021, Peter Dutton regarded claims that Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) would contribute to a regional arms race as “nonsensical”. And Dutton, now opposition leader, says regional leaders privately supported Australia’s decision to procure the conventionally-armed SSNs. “All of […]
The post OPINION | Former defence minister: there’s broad support in the region for...
What, exactly, is Australia’s intended fleet of nuclear-powered submarines supposed to do? It’s reasonable to ask the question, because the government has not spelled out the roles of the vessels. Nonetheless, the answer is clear. Operating as part of a coalition in a major-power war to defend...
Of all the problems confronting the nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) component of AUKUS, perhaps the most significant, yet relatively unremarked upon, concerns the question of how the submarines will contribute to deterrence. The tenor of some recent commentary betrays confusion about what...