Defence minister says the $7.25bn plan will improve Australian navy’s floor combatant fleet to 26 from 11.
Australia has introduced a decade-long plan to double its fleet of warships and increase its defence spending by an extra 11.1 billion Australian {dollars} ($7.25bn).
Defence Minister Richard Marles stated on Tuesday that the federal government’s plan would ultimately improve the navy’s floor combatant fleet to 26 from 11, the most important because the finish of World Conflict II.
He cited issues over rising geopolitical tensions as competitors between the US, its allies and China heats up within the Asia Pacific area.
Beneath the brand new plan, Marles stated Australia will get six Hunter class frigates, 11 general-purpose frigates, three air warfare destroyers and 6 state-of-the-art floor warships that don’t must be crewed.
No less than a few of the fleet might be armed with Tomahawk missiles able to long-range strikes on targets deep inside enemy territory – a significant deterrent functionality.
“It is the largest fleet that we will have since the end of the second world war,” Marles informed reporters.
“What is critically important to understand is that as we look forward, with an uncertain world in terms of great power contest, we’ll have a dramatically different capability in the mid-2030s to what we have now,” he added.
“That is what we are planning for and that is what we are building.”
The minister stated the massive optionally crewed floor vessels (LSOV), which will be operated remotely and are being developed by the US, will considerably increase the navy’s long-range strike capability.
The vessels could possibly be inducted by the mid-2030s.
Australia may even take steps to speed up the procurement of 11 general-purpose frigates to exchange the ageing ANZAC-class ships, with the primary three to be constructed abroad and anticipated to enter service earlier than 2030.
“This decision we are making right now sees a significant increase in defence spending … and it is needed, given the complexity of the strategic circumstances that our country faces,” Marles stated.
The announcement – which comes amid Australian plans to acquire not less than three US-designed nuclear-powered submarines – would see Canberra improve its defence spending to 2.4 p.c of gross home product (GDP), above the two p.c goal set by its NATO allies.
Specialists say that taken collectively, Australia is poised to develop important naval functionality.
However the nation’s main defence tasks have lengthy been beset by price overruns, authorities U-turns, coverage modifications and challenge plans that make extra sense for native job creation than defence.
Michael Shoebridge, a former senior safety official, informed the AFP information company that the federal government should overcome previous errors and had “no more time to waste” as competitors within the area heats up.
Shoebridge stated there have to be a trimmed-down procurement course of, in any other case, it will likely be a “familiar path that leads to delays, construction troubles, cost blowouts – and at the end, ships that get into service too late with systems that are overtaken by events and technological change”.
Wooing particular electorates with the promise of “continuous naval shipbuilding” can’t be the precedence, he stated.
“This will just get in the way of the actual priority: reversing the collapse of our navy’s fleet.”