Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

4 EDITORIAL
DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
MANY QUESTIONS, FEW ANSWERS
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
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AS THESE words are written, 2021 is run- ning down to the wire and once again it has been a challenging year for Defence and industry. The difficulties wrought by the pandemic throughout the year have again proved frustrating, but it’s pleasing to see light at the end of the tunnel.
It is particularly pleasing to note the much-anticipated Top 40/Top 20 results for 2021 show a modest increase in rev- enues across industry over the previous year. Despite the restrictions, it’s clear to
until the day before the AUKUS unveil- ing that (at least) the last three months of its work had all been vain. Naturally, this decision also outraged Paris, which felt it had been misled.
While Australia’s purchase of a subma- rine using weapons-grade uranium as fuel is not in breach of the nuclear non-prolif- eration treaty, it is arguably against the spirit of it. Imagine Canberra’s reaction if Russia or China provided similar technol- ogy to a third party?
The PM said strategic circumstances had deteriorated (an undeniable fact) and claimed the Attack-class would have been obsolete on delivery. “This subma- rine, when it went in the water, would be obsolete almost the minute it got wet,” he said.
But the timing of Australia’s program is not clear: the only commitment so far is a ‘she’ll be right mate’ agreement to conduct an 18-month study. Even the head of the task group charged with working out the delivery road map does not know what the PM meant when he promised the first boat will be ‘in the wa- ter’ by 2040 (refer page 110).
This is around ten years after the first Attack-class boat was planned to be in the water and, if the latter will be ‘obsolete’ by 2030, how will Australia provide a credi- ble capability with current Collins subma- rines for a decade longer than it planned to do only a few months ago?
The PM has also promised an ‘intent’ to build the new submarines in Adelaide, but it remains to be seen how long this pledge withstands the test of time.
Defence arranged a media briefing on the day of the announcement, but again this raised many questions and provided few answers – and ADM’s questions remain unanswered, over three months later.
We look forward to learning more, but 2022 will see a federal election here and mid-term elections in the US. Fasten your seatbelts. ■
“THE PM HAS ALSO PROMISED AN ‘INTENT’ TO BUILD THE NEW SUBMARINES IN ADELAIDE, BUT IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN HOW LONG THIS PLEDGE WITHSTANDS THE TEST OF TIME”
see the industry is not only surviving, but continuing to grow.
I hope you enjoy reading our annual survey again this year and on behalf of the ADM team, thank you to those companies who voluntarily and enthusiastically re- sponded to our ques- tionnaire. As Group Editor Ewen Levick notes on page 42, 2021 was another record year for the industry.
The past year has also been a tumultu- ous time for acquisi- tion projects, as we report in our review
on page 104 of this issue. The removal of Army’s BMS in April has naturally raised many questions. Unfortunately, all have so far gone unanswered by De- fence, but you can read the result of Se- nior Correspondent Julian Kerr’s detec- tive work by turning to page 28.
However, the most sensational story of the year was the Prime Minister’s an- nouncement on 16 September of the AU- KUS alliance and desire to pursue a US or UK nuclear-powered attack submarine.
To say this came as a surprise is an un- derstatement – ADM understands even the Sea 1000 Project Office was not told