Leaving aside the potentially adverse strategic implications of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine decision, for those who think a submarine capability is important, it is simply bad defence policy. Australian governments are now certain to be bedevilled by submarines for generations.
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Is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute advocating that Defence policy should be outsourced to weapon system manufacturers? Commercial organisations responsible to shareholders, often foreign interests, should not be responsible for identifying and pursuing Australia’s national interest.
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Turkey’s President Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara on Tuesday [16 March 2021] that Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy armed unmanned aerial vehicles from Turkey.
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The first test flight of a pilotless fighter-like jet, by a Boeing and Royal Australian Air Force team, has taken place at Woomera in South Australia. The Boeing ‘Loyal Wingman’ is the first military plane to be designed and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years.
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The Biden administration is reviewing pending arms sales, including controversial arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorised by former President Donald Trump. The review includes the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, and F-35 fighters and armed drones to the UAE.
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France has welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Paris. At a joint media conference President Macron told reporters that “matters of defence and economic cooperation” with Egypt would not be conditional on questions of disagreements on human rights, disappointing those who had been calling for France to take a stronger position with Egypt on rights issues.
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New data from SIPRI’s Arms Industry Database shows that arms sales by the world’s 25 largest arms companies totalled US$361 billion in 2019, an 8.5 per cent increase over 2018. The top five arms companies were all based in the United States: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics. Outside of North America and Western Europe, the largest number of foreign arms company entities are hosted by Australia (38).
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The US State Department is reported to have approved a potential sale to Taiwan of four MQ-9 SeaGuardian drones in a deal valued US $600 million, another sale of weapons to Taiwan that will be seen as provocative by China.
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Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement on Geospatial Cooperation As anticipated, the United States and India have today [27 October 2020] signed an agreement for the sharing of sensitive satellite data during a biannual “2+2” security dialogue in New Delhi. According to Indian defence sources, the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) on Geospatial Cooperation will provide India with access to a range of topographical, nautical and aeronautical data necessary for more accurate use of missiles
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The US State Department is reported to have approved the potential sale of 100 Boeing-made Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems to Taiwan, at a cost of up to US $2.37 billion. The move comes days after the State Department approved the potential sale of three other weapons systems to Taiwan, as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on China in the runup to the November presidential election.
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A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, is reported to have said on Monday 26 October 2020 that China will impose sanctions on Lockheed Martin, Boeing Defense, Raytheon and other US companies it says are involved in arms sales to Taiwan.
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Speaking on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, China’s President Xi Jinping is reported to have said that victory in the 1950-53 conflict was a reminder that his nation would “never sit back and watch any damage to our national sovereignty… and we will never allow any force to invade or divide the sacred territory of the motherland.”
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Reuters reports that the 2007 Security Council arms embargo on sale of conventional weapons to Iran was due to expire on 18 October 2020, despite strong opposition from the United States.
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Analysis suggests that the proportion of contracts awarded to firms that are both Australian operated and owned is low, and that work done by Australian-controlled companies has been increasingly subcontracted to foreign-owned prime contractors. The Australian part of Australia’s defence industry is small, and getting smaller. This subordinate role has important implications for the health of Australia’s industry and national resilience.
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An element of strategic divergence means the US and Europe are currently “not quite watching the same movie on the two sides of the Atlantic”, but there is hope that transatlantic defence industrial cooperation can function better if trade-offs are accepted and we have a shared view of the value of working together as allies.
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