Australian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

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Lethe

Captain
A good pair of articles regarding Australia's reception and response to China's surveillance of the recent Talisman Sabre exercise.

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The official Australian response was pitch-perfect, noting that the Chinese activity was lawful and that 'Australia respects the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters in accordance with international law'. This '
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' statement reminded China that its collection activities are - just like America’s - legal.

But
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from un-named Australian Defence officials, that described the vessel’s presence as 'provocative' and 'unfriendly', are more revealing. These descriptors might be accurate, but our thinking should not stop there. We know Beijing objects to the American practice of regularly
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, and pushes back against what it perceives as unfriendly and provocative acts through unsafe intercepts. If we are unnerved by just one such PLA-N visit, should we not consider how China feels?

The tit-for-tat dynamics identified by James Goldrick in the former article are surely valid, yet they elide both the overwhelming disparity, past and present, between US and allied surveillance of China, and China's surveillance of anyone else (at least outside East Asia). Indeed, this disparity is no doubt why Goldrick urges against "undue alarm" on the part of Australian officials: he knows that the American-Australian axis has a lot more to lose from making surveillance activities within a nation's EEZ a political issue than China does. That calculus will slowly change over time as China's surveillance capabilities and operations continue to improve, but it can reasonably be expected that it will continue to favour America and allied nations at least in the medium-term, and therefore that those nations will seek to preserve current surveillance norms.

The psychological component is also revealing. The simple truth is that western nations, most certainly including Australia, are not accustomed to being treated as they treat others, and the outbursts attributed to (un-named) defence officials reflect that.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
The Austaralians are smart to get the Triton-Poseidon combo.

With 15 P-8s and 7 Tritons (although I think they should have more) they will be able to establish some good MPA, in depth and well out to Sea over any potential threat zone.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
"The Hobart set sail from Adelaide for Sydney where on September 23 it will be commissioned ..."

except of this info the article is pretty strange so just the link here:
Air Warfare Destroyer Hobart sets sail for Sydney to begin life in the navy

August 6, 2017
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She's looking good...and on her way!

0001-Hobart.jpg
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
The 3 Hobbart replace the 4 Perry/Adelaide homeported to Sydney
I wish they would keep all seven. The upgrades to the Perry/Adelaide will keep them competent for some time to come and having seven vessels allows the Hobarts to concentrate on air defense of the high value task forces at all time.
 
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