Australian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

SouthernSky said:

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A little further on earlier discussions on this topic.

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As I said earlier...

Jeff Head said:

I believe that Australia (and I believe the same is true of Japan) are acquiring aviation capable vessels and hedging their bets. If future events create a threat environment where they need them, then they already have major combatant vessels in place that can relatively straight forwardly take the fixed wing component.

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Seems like they are thinking harder and harder about it...and they already have vessels being built (one already in trials) that could handle them if necessary.

SamuraiBlue said:

Look as if the two nations had finally sealed a deal.

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I'd personally like Australia to order an Australian centric Soryu. Perhaps the first being built in Japan, followed by the rest being license built in Australia.

...or maybe all of them being license built in Australia with Mitsubishi and Kawasaki advisement and assistance.

Japan and Australia together will make a very strong maritime alliance/team.

Jeff Head said:

I'd personally like Australia to order an Australian centric Soryu. Perhaps the first being built in Japan, followed by the rest being license built in Australia.

...or maybe all of them being license built in Australia with Mitsubishi and Kawasaki advisement and assistance.

Japan and Australia together will make a very strong maritime alliance/team.

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Considering that RAN subs might need tropical modifications, that would make the most sense.

Skywatcher said:

Considering that RAN subs might need tropical modifications, that would make the most sense.

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The Soryus mostly operate in the East and South China sea.

SamuraiBlue said:

The Soryus mostly operate in the East and South China sea.

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I wasn't aware that they'd gone that far south, especially when you have the Russians hanging around up north.

Skywatcher said:

I wasn't aware that they'd gone that far south, especially when you have the Russians hanging around up north.

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That is why Japan requires a large fleet.

Potential threat from PRC around Okinawa and sea lanes in the south as well as keeping check of old adversary in the north.

SamuraiBlue said:

That is why Japan requires a large fleet.

Potential threat from PRC around Okinawa and sea lanes in the south as well as keeping check of old adversary in the north.

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But you said that they mostly operate east and south, which makes keeping check of the old adversary rather difficult.

Skywatcher said:

But you said that they mostly operate east and south, which makes keeping check of the old adversary rather difficult.

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Hehehe...Samurai also said that have a large fleet.

The Soryu class are not the only ones the JMSDF has. The class just before that, the Oyashio Class, is just about as large and just about as capable, and they have eleven of them.

Jeff Head said:

Hehehe...Samurai also said that have a large fleet.

The Soryu class are not the only ones the JMSDF has. The class just before that, the Oyashio Class, is just about as large and just about as capable, and they have eleven of them.

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I'd imagine that you'd want to keep the Soryus about roughly equally divided between the north and south though, Russian SSNs are the one area where their naval shipbuilding hasn't imploded in the past twenty years.

Jeff Head said:

As I said earlier...



Seems like they are thinking harder and harder about it...and they already have vessels being built (one already in trials) that could handle them if necessary.

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Jeff

There are several key statements in that article I posted which I had hoped you'd pick up on in the interests of discussion. I shall go through them and provide my opinions on them.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Brown said the force had not asked for the F-35B but added the idea should be examined along with all other credible options.
"Like all things when you have a new White Paper, you should always examine all sorts of options ... It wasn't something the air force has particularly pushed," he said.
He said significant changes would be needed for the LHD ships to accommodate up to 12 of the fighters.

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I can categorically say the RAAF don't want them. And they will be the operators of them if they are ever purchased. Any 'B' models purchased will come out of the 100 F-35A airframes the RAAF expect to get. I think it's only reasonable that the RAAF gets it's full compliment of 100 F-35A's to defend Australian airspace. Anything less is a compromise I'm not
comfortable with.

"One of the big issues with having fixed-wing aeroplanes come back onto a ship is you've actually got to get them back in poor weather, so there would be new radars required on the ship as well as instrument landing systems, so there'd be some extensive modifications around that."
Chief of Navy, Vice-Admiral Ray Griggs, said further modifications to the ship would include making the deck heat resistant, and changes to fuel storage and fuel lines, weapons magazines and classified compartments for storage.

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The RAN are fully aware of the challenges it faces in the PACRIM now and into the foreseeable future. If given the choice, I think they'd be far more interested in a purchase of a further 24 MH-60R's for the LHD's to develop a larger ASW role.

"This has been a fairly superficial examination up until now because there hasn't been a serious consideration of this capability going into the ship."
Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, said it was too early even to say how the F-35B would fit into the Australian Defence Force.
Much work was needed to decide even how useful they would be, how much they would cost and what sacrifices would be needed to buy them.
"I think we're in a situation where a new government has come in, there's a White Paper been evolving for a while ... The Prime Minister has ... a view about a capability he ... thinks might be relevant to the ADF. He's asked us to look at that.

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Sacrifices being the key word in the above statement. The Royal Australian Army is currently undergoing a massive reconfiguration, much of which revolves around the acquisition of the Canberra class LHD's. The current Prime Minister's latest thought bubble has the potential to to throw many years of planning and implementation into chaos.





As I've already said, no one wants to see fixed wing flying from RAN flat tops more than me. The implications are potentially larger than some understand though.