Page 18 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

18 DEFENCE BUSINESS SIA CONFERENCE
DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
The ADF once planned for the defence of Australia on the basis that a major threat would come from a hostile regional nation lodging small bands of combatants onto the mainland.
MAX BLENKIN | CANBERRA
IN THE significant rethink of Australia’s strategic circum- stances and outlook now under way, the new Defence Stra- tegic Review (DSR) sees the ADF delivering “impactful pro- jection” of power to an adversary far beyond the mainland.
That could come by way of torpedo or missile from the proposed nuclear submarines, though for the foreseeable future that would be the Navy’s six Collin-class boats.
But it need not just be submarines – a missile launched from the mainland or from an RAAF airborne asset could be equally as effective.
In addresses to the Submarine Institute of Australia’s bi- ennial conference in Canberra, both Defence Minister Rich- ard Marles and Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond cited the term “impactful power projection” – suggesting it will feature in the upcoming Defence Strategic Review.
DEFENCE STRATEGIC REVIEW
Marles told the conference he had received the first in- terim advice from those preparing the DSR, former Labor
Defence Minister Stephen Smith and former defence chief Angus Houston.
That’s on track for release in first quarter 2023, the same time the government will release its assessment on how it plans to proceed on acquisition of nuclear submarines.
Marles said both pieces of work would underpin defence thinking and policy for decades.
“Increasingly we’re going to need to think about our de- fence forces in terms of being able to provide the country with impactful projection, meaning an ability to hold an adversary at risk much further from our shores across the full spectrum of proportionate response,” he said.
“That is actually a different mindset to what we have probably had before.”
THE NUCLEAR ARGUMENT
VADM Hammond said Australia derived its economic and security well-being from the sea and the sea lines of com- munication delivered the lifeblood of the nation.
AUSTRALIA’S NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINE JOURNEY