Former Defence Minister Kim Beazley is right on the mark. We need to double our Submarine fleet. I agree, and the evidence is there. It has been there for quite a while. China has some 75 Conventional and Nuclear Powered submarines. And we can't rely on the US if you can see their current Submarine acquisition strategy.
As well as doubling our fleet, we need to triple the amount of Maritime Patrol Aircraft (RAAF) which are dedicated to Submarine Search and Destroy missions, AND, the most important part is, keeping (and DOUBLING!) the F111 Strike Bomber fleet. They are essential to maintaining a strategic capability in our region. Indonesia is on our doorstep, and China is only the street behind it.
If Labor actually get serious on defence, I can see the Liberals are going to find it extremely tough going in winning any seats from Labor in the next election.
More on the regional arms race here.
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Sounds good. But Australia can't even man the subs it has. Navy manning is always having problems. Right now, RAN doesn't have enough crew to put all 6 of the Collins to sea.
Whatshisname stating the other day that we need 12 subs will have to consider that is a lot of dock space to tie up boats that won't have enough crew.
ASW is a combo... sub, surface, air ( Orions and Orion replacement ). Orions can cause a lot of grief at a choke point for subs. This means we need AIR SUPERIORITY for the Orions to hold their end up. Hard given the current shambolic airpower roadmap. Then finally, ELINT,COMINT,SIGINT to pick up signals traffic of enemy naval forces. It all works together. Just getting subs and not having enough beef in the other areas, won't do it for ASW.
My plan for crewing is this: Make welfare only obtainable in the direst of circumstances. Get Aborigines and others who don't work into work. Don't build subs here, get them built in the US.
Manpower in the sub building sector could be utilized for other industries and then free up the personnel who can get into the Navy to be in the Subs.
At least we could make it attractive to join Submarines and after a minimum of 12 years, could throw a $70K tax free carrot with added super/pension benefits at the end to stay for 3 more years, thus retaining personnel and building the expertise in the fleet.
Your middle comment was hilarious, a laugh, I love it. Throw more my way, a bit of humour is great in my day (rhymes eh?)...
Your last comment I absolutely agree with 100%. No doubt at all that we need to focus on Air Superiority (the Government hasn't much sense when it comes to this stuff, but I am hoping Labor proves me wrong!).
The P-8A Poseidon will the PC-3's replacement (essentially a 737NG) and will, with a large enough fleet, strengthen our ASW capabilities. Having 8 Virginia class Subs with the current 6 Collins and future planned 12-15 Australian New Sub design will substantially guard Australia. What has been talked about in the media recently is our Space borne capability and our development of it. Like Nuclear Power and Arms we have limited ourselves (thanks to feral leftists running our joint in Oz) to not getting into space. I remember the leftist overtones of the 80s in which the US was 'spending too much money on defence' and how 'many people were starving'. Stupid leftist garbage never gets us anywhere and will keep people starving, because they never learn how to feed themselves.
With space we can put some 10-15 satellites up and the power of Australia's surveillance capability will be awesome when even comparing to the new sub and PA-8 purchases mentioned above.
So adding to your last paragraph there Eric, I assume it is a great vision, as subs can be spotted from satellites and with new technology available we can detect and sub that uses sea water for coolant, as well as even more techniques for detection.
I believe the F15AU would be a perfect aircraft for escort duty of the ASW aircraft (PC-3 and PA-8). It could also escort the F111s (it has similar speed and range) into hostile territory. The F/A18 (any class of it) cannot do it.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/p8a/index.html
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