The Chinese military itself wasn’t free from drama, as Beijing cycled through defense ministers and senior officials fell under investigation.
By Colin Clark“Early indications are that the 3 countries are missing an opportunity to craft a shared defense export control framework devoid of the well-understood structural problems associated with the ITAR,” the US Studies Centrre report’s authors write.
By Colin Clark“Nothing in this treaty has changed the known level of risk for what is an ambitious project. In some respects, the agreement of the treaty-level document between the three countries can be interpreted as a risk reduction measure,” Australian naval expert Jennifer Parker said.
By Colin Clark“We’re a long way down that path and really, that’s the thing that we need to [figure out] first,” Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, told Breaking Defense.
By Colin Clark and Aaron Mehta“This new contract further ensures these workers have certainty in Australia’s national naval shipbuilding and sustainment enterprise, and helps to grow the workforce required to build and sustain Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines,” Sen. Katy Gallagher, the Finance Minister, said.
By Colin ClarkSeparately Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said, “We need that infrastructure on the west coast and so it’s going to be really important to put that in place… . We have some time in order to do it, but not a lot of time.”
By Colin ClarkPart of the shakeup includes tens of billions for nuclear-powered subs, and halting the pricey procurement of an additional F-35 fighter jet squadron.
By Colin Clark“We’re already making good progress on the design and development of the next generation submarine in the UK, where we have more than 1,000 people working on the SSN-AUKUS program and major infrastructure investment underway,” BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn said.
By Colin Clark“So I know people are frustrated, but the defence budget is increasing. Money is flowing to defence industry to deliver capable projects, critical capabilities,” Pat Conroy, minister for defense industry, said.
By Colin ClarkA Navy official recently said the service had spent at least $200 million on a partnership with a non-profit company to help cultivate the submarine industrial base.
By Justin KatzBabcock Australasia’s Nick Hines said the companies envision an “AUKUS passport” to more easily track skills of the workforce for the subs, allowing the countries to trade workers and fill gaps quickly.
By Colin Clark“I read about so many people in my position, who say, I’m going to triple revenue by whatever. I don’t get into that game. Perhaps that’s because of my defense upbringing. I know how to turn capital into capability. I look at value in a company. Revenue to me is one marker. Value is the most important marker for me,” Warren “Macca” McDonald, CEO of Lockheed Martin Australia, told Breaking Defense.
By Colin Clark“We very much view this as a generational partnership, one that we’re leaning into, and one that we believe will help generate capability and capacity in Australia,” Eric Chewning, HII’s executive vice president for strategy and development, told a group of reporters.
By Colin Clark