Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

4 EDITORIAL
DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
RISK AND RESPONSIBILITY
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
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THE importance of the new Defence Stra- tegic Review cannot be overstated. Not only is it a welcome opportunity to realign defence spending with rapidly changing strategic requirements, it is a chance for the Albanese government to stamp its au- thority on these priorities.
But with the DSR comes risk and re- sponsibility.
It is one thing to view defence capability as a deterrent, but it is another to be able to use that capability to hold a determined aggressor at arm’s length or, even worse, dislodge it from your sovereign territory. This is a lesson both sides are learning on a daily basis in Ukraine.
going to war?
Even if this DSR
can find the perfect balance between ca- pability and funding, there’s still the risk of rapidly evolving tech- nology and changing
strategic circumstances to contend with. With this risk also comes the responsibil- ity of ensuring that Australia’s sovereign defence industry can not only grow to fill the need, but survive in rapidly changing circumstances.
As we’ve seen in recent times, some defence acquisition decisions seem to have been made in response to what is politically acceptable or expedient on a given day. The change from the Attack- class submarine to an as-yet unidenti- fied nuclear-powered alternative for example, has set not only Australia’s na- val capability back by a decade, but has had an adverse (and as yet undefined)
impact on local suppliers, who had in- vested in what they thought was going to be a 40-year program.
In a similar way, the deferral of the Land 400 Phase 3 (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) has not only cost Hanwha and Rheinmetall, in terms of keeping their bid teams and supply chains together for an extended period, but also placed the plans of their local suppliers at risk for longer than expected.
On the acquisition side of things too, how do we decide what capabilities will truly be the best available in constantly changing circumstances? There’s an old adage that buying through Foreign Mili- tary Sales (FMS) has never cost a uni- formed officer or departmental bureaucrat – or even a politician – their career. But taking the easy or convenient decision now may not necessarily be the correct so- lution in the long-term.
There’s a lot at stake here and it is no time for old prejudices or the ‘safe’ ap- proach to hold sway. I hope the DSR gets it right, for us all.
With that said, welcome to the Decem- ber-January issue of ADM which as usu- al contains our popular Top 40 defence primes and Top 20 SME listings.
Following on from 2021, this year was another record year for Australia’s defence industry, with a total turnover of $15.86 billion reported in our survey. As ADM Publisher Ewen Levick and Associate Pub- lisher Kylie Leonard report in their analy- sis on page 34 of this issue, the jump in revenue from 2021-2022 is one of the larg- est increases on record at $2.43 billion, or 18 per cent.
Finally, I would like to advise that we have somewhat reluctantly taken the de- cision to postpone our flagship event, the ADM Congress, from February to June. This is largely due to the timing of the forthcoming strategic review, which is promised to be released in February. Please note that the event will now be held in Canberra on 21 June, 2023. ■
So, what capabilities do we need and, more importantly, how are we going to find adequate fund- ing to provide both a strategic deterrence and a defence force actually capable of
“ON THE ACQUISITION SIDE OF THINGS TOO, HOW DO WE DECIDE WHAT CAPABILITIES WILL TRULY BE THE BEST AVAILABLE IN CONSTANTLY CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES?”