At the same conference, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell urged the incoming Trump administration to work closely with Australia and New Zealand to counter a "relentless" China and not to turn inward.
"Defence continues to enhance the size and lethality of Navy’s surface combatant fleet, as directed by Government in February 2024, and is progressing the acquisition of Australia’s general purpose frigate by engaging with exemplar platform nations and tenderers," an Australian DoD spokesman told Breaking Defense.
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Part of the shakeup includes tens of billions for nuclear-powered subs, and halting the pricey procurement of an additional F-35 fighter jet squadron.
Under the new plan, the Australian surface fleet will grow to 26 ships over the next decade.
"There's no more cost that gets added to the program outside that one design zone change, therefore when you consider that as a value for money, it avoids having to complete a brand-new design from ground up," Craig Lockhart of BAE Systems Australia said.
"Importantly, one of the first decisions of the Albanese Labor government after the Defense Strategic Review was to allocate $4.1 billion for long-range strike and missile manufacturing over the next four years," Pat Conroy, defense industry minister, said.
Answering the Pentagon’s call to bolster defense industrial base.
A new report from a leading Australian thinktank says there's a "disconnect" between Australia's strategic priorities and the money to fund capabilities to tackle them.
The planned purchase of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) will be cut from 450 to 129, a blow to competitors Hanwha and Rheinmetall.
"I think it's a really important part of where we go to is just looking at how we can have that sort of electronic warfare type of capability to allow us to deter attacks or certainly interfere," the head of Australia's Defense Space Command said.
An AUKUS announcement is "imminent," Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said. "We're in conversation with both the UK and the US around the manner in which that is ultimately announced."
A letter from key US lawmakers has raised concerns about the AUKUS plan down under.
It may be the beginning of a new era in Australian defense, with plans to buy Abrams tanks and hundreds of Infantry Fighting Vehicles scaled back to free money for weapons designed to deter.
Will the SDR make big decisions and refocus Australia's strategy? "It ultimately comes down to the ultimate question that we're not really good at answering in this country— what are we really trying do with our military?" Marcus Hellyer of ASPI said.