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It was about the boats. Australia was already "locked in" the US alliance pretty deeply.

The ANZAC class ASMD upgrade (ESSM plus CEAFAR) would have rendered Phalanx CIWS somewhat moot though.

The decision by the US to share nuclear technology would have sunk the Attack class program no matter which supplier of diesel electric boats had been selected.

We'll if you're in a boarding party for border security ops, you want to look 'military.'

Not entirely correct with regard to the RAN. The RAN's Hobart class are AAW, ASuW and ASW capable, as will be the Hunter class. Significantly, both classes will use the same combat system, gun, VLS, etc.

Aside from time taken to sort out IP related issues (the ADF don't want a repeat of the Collins class issues with Kockums), it seems to be progressing as well as any other large program.

This is a total non-story, because "Prices calculated in 2016-17 have been revised according to present exchange rates and inflation calculations.."  The estimated approved project cost and budgeted expenditure were all expressed in then present day (2016-17) dollars, the only way expenses in...

The program has moved on from the development phase.  The first LRIP vehicles were recently delivered to the ADF in April this year.  Thales bought out Steyr so the latter's financial troubles are now irrelevant in terms of supply of engines.

The work completed in Spain on the LHDs and construction of the icebreaker Nuyina has been comparatively simple, though.  Building the Hobart class was an order of magnitude more complex, with the Collins class being yet another order of magnitude more difficult.

The ADF would be no less concerned about IP issues as they relate to through life support of the boats than Canada would be. Also, the Attack class will be fitted with the AN/BYG-1 combat system (as are the Collins), so the whole issue of IP seems to have been addressed satisfactorily for all...

It was always known that the range of the F-35 was never going to give the RAAF true strategic reach into the Pacific and Indian oceans; but then neither did the F-111, and certainly not the F-18F.

More like the RAAF and Aus gov assessing what long range strike capabilities are now needed given the changing strategic situation in the Asia-Pacific region. It will be interesting to see the outcomes: ALCMs, additional KC-30s, a long range strike role for the new submarine fleet.  I suspect...

France is still actively engaged in the Pacific, and French forces are regular participants in ADF led exercises.  It's not a surprising development.

1 - Correct 2 - Australia actually mandated the combat system and weapons fit out, so the competition was really only for the hull and propulsion system. 3 - It will be interesting to see who actually commissions a ship first.

"Management consulting" covers a pretty wide range of advice though.

This is probably the most notorious episode of institutional child abuse in Australia in recent times.  Yes, the alleged perpetrator is a woman.    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-07/malka-leifer-freed-from-detention-under-house-arrest/9525310

Why would a boat try to avoid detection in all exercises?  Might the objective be centred on training the boat's crew in countering the ship's or MPA's attack, or the ship or MPA crew in dealing with a boat that has been detected?  Would other navies, even if "friendly", necessarily want to...

They’ve been edging closer to resuming membership of ANZUS for a while now, so it’s not entirely surprising. Add in being able to leverage off the ADFs support infrastructure and the numbers probably add up the right way, compared to maintaining an increasingly costly and unreliable orphan...

BAE is essentially North American these days, even if nominally headquartered in the UK.  Had the type 26 not been engineered for the US Mark 45 Mod 4 and Mark 41, and designed for easy integration of the USN Aegis combat system and CAE radars, it may not have been successful in the RAN evaluation.

With the ADF transitioning to a fully networked force, the lack of a defined and agreed upgrade path for the Tiger enabling it to operate effectively in that environment would have been reason enough for its replacement.  The wording of the RFI seems pretty clear.