Australia Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Soldier30 said:

Australia sends equipment to military exercises Super Garuda Shield 2023. For the first time since the Vietnam War, Australia sent tanks and armored vehicles abroad to the joint military exercises Super Garuda Shield 2023 with the United States in Indonesia. As reported, the equipment will be involved in the exercises next week. The exercises in Indonesia will be held from 31 August to 13 September. They will be attended by 125 troops from Australia, M1A1 tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks and tow trucks. The exercise will allow the Australian armed forces to conduct training and work out interaction with partner countries to effectively deploy significant ground forces, including armored vehicles, across the Indo-Pacific region.

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The Defence Department’s $46 billion (and rising) acquisition from BAE Systems of nine [Hunter-class frigates] has been referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

The referral follows our exclusive

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into Australia’s second largest naval procurement.

Greens’ defence spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge made the referral. ‘The Greens referred this issue to the NACC because it shows that the culture Coalition and Labor governments have fostered in Defence is not serving the interests of the community,’

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.

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Sources briefed on the findings of a review of the navy’s surface fleet, which was delivered to Defence Minister Richard Marles last week, said it had recommended slashing the planned number of Hunter-class frigates from nine to six, as current shipbuilding projects face cost overruns of up to $20 billion.

The Hunter-class frigates have blown out in size and cost since the program was announced in 2018, with critics saying the ships’ lack of missile cells would leave them seriously under-gunned in any conflict.

The surface fleet review, led by retired US vice-admiral William Hilarides, is said to call for the final three frigates to be replaced by air warfare destroyers, which could carry up to five times as many missiles as the Hunter-class ships.

“Hilarides definitely backed a further destroyer-type capability,” a source briefed on the contents of the review but not authorised to speak publicly said.

These ships could be made at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyards using the same hull as the Hunter-class frigates under a proposal to be submitted by BAE Systems, the British defence firm that designed the Hunter-class ships.

The review is also said to recommend acquiring three to six corvette-style ships, in line with the defence strategic review’s recommendation that the national fleet should have a mix of larger and smaller navy combatants.

The total cost of the additional ships would be an estimated $25 billion to $30 billion over 20 years, a difficult request as Treasurer Jim Chalmers looks for budget savings and the government prepares to spend up to $368 billion over 30 years on the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines.

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The Defence Department has conceded it had a "poorly executed" process for selecting a British company to build Australia's $45 billion future frigates, where "sufficient attention" was not given to risks associated with choosing an immature design.

In 2018 the Turnbull government announced BAE Systems had beaten rival bids from Spain and Italy for the lucrative project to build up to nine high-tech, anti-submarine warships in Adelaide.

Department secretary Greg Moriarty has now outlined numerous shortcomings by defence during the competitive evaluation process between 2014 and 2018 where officials reported that "successive government ministers were closely involved as the process developed and iterative advice was provided".

The secretary also observed that his department "did not use all information available out of the tender process to undertake a comparative assessment in a manner consistent with defence procurement policy".

"In failing to do this defence did not fulfil the requirements of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules in relation to achieving value for money," the Secretary writes in a submission dated November 10.

"The focus on achieving capability requirements displaced sufficient attention to the risks as well as the consideration of the tenders against other criteria which information was assessed and documented as part of the process."

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Defence has confirmed that an undisclosed number of the Royal Australian Air Force’s ten Leonardo C-27J Spartan airlifters have been grounded after fatigue cracking was found in their empennages.​

redion said:

End now one of those crazy examples that only the Australian Department of Defence is know for making.
(Truly what a waste)

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