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Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

APDR

120 episodes

4 days ago

These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers have a right to know what’s going on. But it’s even worse than that with Defence sometimes putting out information that is misleading and in some cases plain wrong. We discuss the Defence Strategic Review and debunk the claims that it is some sort of radical and positive move. No it is not. We also have a few words about the outrageous decision to purchase the SURTASS towed array sonar via FMS and preview the ANAO report into the Hunter class frigate program.

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News Commentary

All content for Asia Pacific Defence Reporter is the property of APDR and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers have a right to know what’s going on. But it’s even worse than that with Defence sometimes putting out information that is misleading and in some cases plain wrong. We discuss the Defence Strategic Review and debunk the claims that it is some sort of radical and positive move. No it is not. We also have a few words about the outrageous decision to purchase the SURTASS towed array sonar via FMS and preview the ANAO report into the Hunter class frigate program.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Show more...

News Commentary

Episodes (20/120)

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

The Indo-Pacific Maritime Expo had quite a few submarine related news items and we look at a few of them, including about future Combat Management Systems. Unfortunately, most journalists continue to act as government stenographers and are either unable or unwilling to ask any awkward questions about AUKUS. It's not clear why when there are many issues that still need to be understood. To make sure that never happens, the government and coalition have disgracefully joined forces to block a Senate inquiry into the matter. The terms of reference are entirely reasonable and would have provided the Australian people with much needed information - but we can't have that. Some words about South Korea - and they will probably have their own nuclear-powered submarines before the first SSN-AUKUS is even launched. Finally a question - does the ADF believe in extra-judicial killings?

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4 days ago

19 minutes 45 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

It's been a big week in South Korea with the Presidents of the US and China meeting on the fringes of APEC. Another related development was the US agreeing to help South Korea develop nuclear powered submarines. The Australian reaction has been predictably snarky and ill-tempered as people to start to realise we aren't as special as we have been telling everyone we are. While it's early days, it looks like South Korea will be building new submarines for themselves, not buying second hand clunkers from the US that we have fallen for. Finally, the Trump-Xi meeting looks like it has been a major win for China. No surprise there.

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1 week ago

17 minutes 51 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Before discussing Korean defence industry and the huge ADEX show in Seoul, some words about the state of the US, which seems to be in a political mess. The problem with all the positive coverage of the Donald Trump - Anthony Albanese meeting a week ago is it risks blinding people to the obvious reality that the US might not be in a position to defend anyone. We could be reaching that point much sooner than anyone anticipated - and Australians have to start thinking seriously about that prospect. Thankfully for defence equipment, there are some alternatives, including from South Korean defence industry. The capabilities of the Republic of Korea are extraordinary, and the rate of growth seems to be increasing - and we have a quick look at the KF-21 supersonic jet fighter. A stealth version of it will appear soon - and it will be similar in performance to Australia's F-35s.

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2 weeks ago

20 minutes 35 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

It's happened - the long awaited meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump has occurred - and the Australian reporting of it has varied from average to woeful. It could have been much worse - but it has not altered the fundamentals of AUKUS Pillar One. If the US was serious about selling second hand Virginia class submarines to us, President $TRUMP could authorise the deal now with the transfer occurring in the 2030s - but the US won't do that. The critical minerals agreement is just as unnecessary as expected. Back in Australia, there's some very good news about domestic guided weapons manufacture with a three way deal between ourselves, Lockheed Martin and the US. We also ponder why it is that Ministers tell obvious untruths and falsehoods.

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3 weeks ago

20 minutes 9 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

The big international story is the ceasefire in Gaza - and thank goodness for that.

Can US President Donald Trump claim it as a personal success? Absolutely!

From what we can piece together, he was somehow able to persuade Hamas to trust Israel and at the same time finally got tough with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Let's hope the peace lasts, but with Israel's current policy settings that looks unlikely. We also preview our PM's meeting with Trump scheduled for October 20 - and let's hope there isn't any grovelling or attempts to appease the US by giving away lots of stuff.

And finally a few depressing words about who really sets Australian security policy - and it's not governments or Ministers, it's a very powerful group of bureaucrats who have talked themselves into the belief that Australia cannot defend itself unaided. This has become a litmus test for admission into the group and has poisoned the minds of a number of Ministers.

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1 month ago

18 minutes 15 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Better late than never, we start by looking at the Australia-PNG defence treaty, which has now been signed by the Prime Ministers of both countries.

While generally a good thing, there are questions about how suitable it is for PNG's needs and whether it could act as a vehicle for a conflict with Indonesia.

Then some words about US and Australian military cultures - and what will happen if they become completely incompatible. In the extraordinary meeting on September 30 with the entire US military hierarchy, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth made it clear that they only want white, male, Christian nationalists in the ranks.

And some thoughts on why people in the US have suddenly started being so publicly supportive of AUKUS.

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1 month ago

21 minutes 4 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

This week there's a lot to talk about internationally because PM Anthony Albanese has been in the US and the UK. For the latter visit, the attitude of the Australian media has been displaying cultural cringe at its worst. Please understand that Australia does not need to "shore up" AUKUS because it's the UK begging us for our dollars. The PM now has a meeting with US President Donald Trump on October 20 and who knows how that will go because if Mr Trump's rambling, incoherent speech to the United Nations was anything to go by, he appears to have lost his mind. Finally a few more brief words about Xinjiang - and anyone who wants to understand China today has to look at the last 200 years of history.

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1 month ago

20 minutes 7 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

This podcast was recorded in Beijing at the end of a 12 day visit to China, the bulk of which was spent in the Xinjiang Autonomous region looking at topics such as the Belt & Road Initiative and the status of the Uighur ethnic community. But it has still been possible to keep an eye on events in Australia such as the supposed $12 billion investment in the Henderson maritime precinct and the failure to secure treaties with Vanuatu and now PNG. Plenty of egg on face for those - though the setbacks might be temporary. Also, the US seems to be descending into fascism, not that any Australian politicians care. Finally, some words about the treatment of the Uighurs. Has there been repression? Yes. But no one talks about the reasons why - dozens of extremely violent terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists during a 20 year period.

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1 month ago

20 minutes 9 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

A correction to start with - Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles have a range of 3,000km, not the 1,000km mentioned in the previous podcast, giving rise to the question: if Ukraine can develop their own long-range cruise missiles, why can't Australia? Next we have the comical renaming of the US Defense Department to the War Department, as if this will do anything other than expose the Trump administration to more ridicule. Make no mistake, continuing pro-Russia actions make it abundantly clear that President Trump is not a supporter of democracies - and that could extend to Australia as the US retreats slowly into a posture of homeland defence. We look at nuclear submarine numbers in the US and UK with new analysis provided by retired submariner RADM Peter Briggs and it's not a pretty picture. If only we had stuck with France.

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2 months ago

20 minutes 37 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

We start with some thoughts about the still unexplained visit to Washington DC in the final week of August by Defence Minister Richard Marles. The exact circumstances of his meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remain unclear. Perhaps the visit was a substitute for the annual AUSMIN talks, which might not go ahead because of a lack of interest on the US side. The Australian government does not seem to realise that most of the world is rapidly realigning to minimise dependence on the erratic Trump administration. In our region Japan and the Republic of Korea are re-evaluating their relationship with Washington - and India has had enough and is trying to rapidly improve relations with China and possibly Russia. This means that the Quad - the security agreement between the US, Australia, Japan and India - is dead.

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2 months ago

19 minutes 41 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Unfortunately the prediction in the previous podcast that the Trump administration will continue down the path of being an unreliable security partner is proving to be correct. US politics is swerving in a dangerous direction of dismantling many aspects of how a government functions - a process that has historical roots. Practical manifestations are things like on the one hand approving the sale of weapons to Ukraine, but on the other hand severely limiting how they can be used. The results of the Elbridge Colby revenue into AUKUS are expected by late November - and we predict that the sale of second-hand nuclear submarines will only go ahead if Australia can meet certain conditions, such as lifting Defence spending to 3.5% of GDP. Finally some speculation about why the Mogami frigate wasn't selected for SEA 3000 two years ago since it's now apparent it was always the preferred choice of the RAN. Could it be that two years ago only the basic Mogami was under construction but by delaying the decision until now the upgraded version is under contract meaning the Navy will get a much bigger ship with twice the number of VLS cells than the ship of 2023?

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2 months ago

19 minutes 54 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

- The dominant international security event was the disgraceful Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, with the US President fawning and grovelling in front of his war criminal Russian counterpart. The result was nothing positive for Ukraine - no ceasefire and no new sanctions, only talk of territory being given to Russia. It is impossible to comprehend why President Trump cannot understand that it is Russia that launched an unprovoked, illegal invasion of Ukraine. This event has profound implications for Australia, demonstrating once again that the US is no longer a reliable ally. Then a bit more about SEA 3000 and details of how Defence cooked the books, outrageously inflating the price of the TKMS bid designed to deny them a competitive advantage over MHI. Finally, some positives about RoK-Australia defence cooperation. The Koreans are very keen - so Australia now needs to seize the opportunity and make things happen.

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2 months ago

20 minutes 31 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Congratulations to Japan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for their success in being selected as the supplier of General Purpose Frigates under SEA 3000. The attractive features of the Japanese ship are well known - stealth characteristics, high levels of automation, a fixed-face radar array and 32 VLS cells. However, this was followed by a deceitful background briefing by senior Australian figures that was full of provable untruths. This included information suggesting that the losing bid from German supplier TKMS was inflated by Defence using the false pretext that it came with a different set of weapons. No it did not. Without any evidence, Defence had also concluded that TKMS could not meet the schedule when there is ample evidence that they could do so without difficulty. One wonders why a competition even took place when the outcome looks predetermined. Then there's more misleading information from Defence Minister Richard Marles who continues to insist incorrectly that Australia has already reviewed the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine decision. And once again it looks like US President Donald Trump is getting ready to sell out Ukraine.

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3 months ago

18 minutes 55 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

We promised some analysis of the UK-Australia AUKUS submarine agreement and to describe it as a framework would be generous. It has a lot of standard legal boilerplate about tariffs and tax refunds, but the substance has many gaps. It can be cancelled with 12 months notice and seems to leave all of the power in the hands of the UK government. Next - the US seems to be becoming a less reliable ally on a daily basis. President Donald Trump is now using tariffs as a political cudgel, not just an economic one of very doubtful effectiveness. Defence talks with Australia scheduled for the next few days have been scrapped and it's unclear if the annual AUSMIN talks will go ahead as scheduled. Our government remains supremely confident that no one should worry.

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3 months ago

19 minutes 29 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

There has been quite a bit of news about AUKUS Pillar One based on the visit to Australia of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier and a couple of Ministers. Apparently there's going to be a 50-year treaty about the AUKUS submarine between our two countries, with the document soon to be tabled in Parliament. This is probably because we can't get a treaty with the US, so let's have one with the UK instead - but it's strategic nonsense and all of the talk of industrial cooperation are just empty words. We buy a lot from the UK and in return they buy nothing from us. Turning to the US, in testimony to the Senate, incoming Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Daryl Caudle has expressed doubts about the ability of industry to produce enough Virginia class submarines for their own needs, let alone Australia's. This information will of course be ignored by our government because it doesn't suit their warped view of reality. And SEA 3000 is reaching a crucial point with the possibility of a winner being selected in the next few days. Assuming that the competition is genuine, it's not helpful that plenty of Australian commentators are telling Japan that they have it in the bag.

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3 months ago

19 minutes 15 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Details have come in about the latest US military aid package for Ukraine and it looks to be a disappointment. President Donald Trump has given Russia 50 days to start peace negotiations but that coincides with the start of the Autumn rains when ground campaigning grinds - or bogs - to a halt. Also for the weapons part of the equation - nothing is being given to Ukraine, all of the systems are being sold at normal commercial rates to NATO allies, who will in turn transfer them. In the last few days both PM Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have said that for Australia what counts is not what we are spending on Defence but rather the capability being acquired. This is exactly the point - the ADF is going backwards. Sacking a few senior military and civilian figures, which is in the pipeline, won't help. Let's do something useful such as acquiring South Korea's equivalent of Patriot - the KM-SAM - and building it in Australia. That would make an important practical difference, but for it to happen needs a major change of mindset within Defence.

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3 months ago

18 minutes 53 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

This episode coincides with the release of the July-August edition of APDR so there will be some cross referencing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has started his 6-day visit to China which has sparked the usual conservative talking points about why he has met President Xi four times but has not yet secured an audience with US President and human wrecking ball Donald Trump. PM Albanese is wise avoiding him - any meeting runs the risk of going off the rails and becoming a forum of personal abuse. Then some details of the MEKO 200, the ship being offered for SEA 3000 by Germany's TKMS. It looks like a good low risk strategy based around the Saab 9LV combat management system. Additionally, some - but not all - of the claimed advantages of Japan's upgraded Mogami frigate don't stand up to scrutiny. Also, what on earth is going on with the Henderson maritime precinct in WA and some strange recent comments from Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. Finally with Patriot missiles in high global demand, let's work with the South Koreans to build the medium range surface-to-air missiles they have developed in Australia.

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4 months ago

19 minutes 41 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

For the centenary podcast we have chosen a theme - Ukraine. The ongoing fightback against the Russian invasion is relevant to Australia in several ways, including the reliability of the US as an ally and also for the future direction of military technology. The US has again suspended some military aid, and how Vladimir Putin must be rejoicing. The bureaucrat responsible is also the one currently reviewing AUKUS and he may well figure out a way to extract even more cash from gullible Australian politicians and Defence figures. As we have previously tried explaining, the entire procurement structure could be improved overnight and at zero cost by making the system far more transparent and we have drafted a memo for Richard Marles so he doesn't have to do it himself.

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4 months ago

19 minutes 40 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

The US airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities continue to dominate defence coverage - and in terms of Washington politics everyone has to agree with Donald Trump that they were obliterated. In a future joint operation, Australia would be expected to sing from the same song sheet. Let's not forget that he is continuing to support Russia - and that could have major implications for Australia. But the main theme is the TKMS bid for SEA 3000, the details of which have not come from the company because they would be in breach of Defence NDAs and people would be jailed as a consequence. However, there's enough information around to believe they will offer a low risk solution based on the Saab 9LV CMS and a number of sensors well known to the RAN. At the same time it is possible that Japan has been misled, or at least misdirected - by the insistence of Defence and the government that speed to capability is ahead of everything else.

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4 months ago

19 minutes 51 seconds

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

Even on the very rustic Greek island of Zakynthos, it was impossible to remain isolated from world events such as the airstrikes by Israel and the US on Iran.

While much of the commentary has split along the usual lines of conservatives around the world standing with the US, it is far from unclear how close Iran was to producing a nuclear weapon - Israel has been calling wolf on this for the last 20 years.

What was the motivation of President Donald Trump? Apparently he was encouraged by the positive Fox News coverage of Israel's earlier strikes.

As for Australia, there's a very important issue in all of this that no one wants to talk about, namely why are we still blindly following an increasingly erratic Washington administration.

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4 months ago

19 minutes 42 seconds