Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

We discuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Australia's reasons for jumping in so quickly in support of the US.

But first some words on yet another assault on transparency by the government scrapping the ANAO's annual review of major Defence projects. Ministers Marles and Conroy will be delighted that an important source of scrutiny has been removed - as will the Defence bureaucracy.

As for sending a Wedgetail and AMRAAMs to the UAE, it looks like the government was spooked by a 1am Truth Social post by President $Trump - this move by an Australian Prime Minister previously proud of the ALP's 2003 decision not to support the US invasion of Iraq.

As for the current air campaign against Iran - it could get much worse and it's not at all clear that the government has thought this through.
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The unrelenting aerial bombardment of Iran by the US and Israel continues - with no known end point. Israel would probably like to keep attacking forever and in the case of the US, it might stop when President Trump gets bored. Gulf states have called for assistance from a number of countries to counter Iran's aerial attacks, including Australia. The sad reality is that with an annual Defence budget of almost $60 billion there's not a lot we can send. Army has a good ground based system called NASAMS but it's not optimised for this sort of conflict - and there are likely to be major problems with the resupply of the main weapon it uses, the AIM-120 AMRAAM.
In the meantime, South Korea has signed a huge defence technology cooperation agreement with the UAE. This could have been Australia but we are too slow, too dim and too obsessed with the US to take advantage of numerous offers that have been made.
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We have to start with the US and Israeli bombings of Iran, even though they have little direct relevance for Australia.

The chances of the US achieving regime change is unlikely, no matter how many clerics are killed. Unless the US and Israel have been secretly arming rebel groups within the country, calls for protests will only lead to the deaths of even more innocent civilians.

In Australia, the RN Astute class SSN, HMS Anson, arrived at HMAS Stirling for repairs. The government claims this meets a major AUKUS milestone.
No it doesn't - it is proof of how desperate the UK is for our cash.

Speaking of cash - Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy is in the UK to hand over $310 million to Rolls Royce for some nuclear reactor long lead time items. That money should be spent on Australian engineering companies which have the ability to manufacture the required items right here.
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This episode marks the 4th anniversary of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, which shows no sign of ending. Australia is providing some help - but not nearly enough.

The international environment remains chaotic - and we pose the difficult question: if Australian governments are incapable of introducing a digital passenger arrival card, what hope is there that we will ever be able to build a nuclear-powered submarine?

Donald $Trump's tariff war with the world continues and Australia has now been hit with a 15% rate, which of course will be met with earnest expressions of concern rather than a meaningful response. If you think Trump's aim of acquiring Greenland is over, think again
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Before we get to the Singapore air show, some more words about US isolationism and a country that seems to be fracturing.
Something that Australian politicians seem to be sadly unaware of.
There was pushback against the latest report from the US Congressional Research Service - a very authoritative group - that once again raised the possibility of Australia not receiving any Virginia class submarines.
This was in the form of a heated response from Defence Minister Marles, that everything is perfect - but where is the evidence for that?
The project will receive an injection of an additional $600 million this year, meaning that the path to reaching 2.3% of GDP will be even slower than previously believed.
From the air show, some good news about the growth path for Apache helicopters and also a reminder that NH90 helicopters - the parent design of the scrapped Taipan fleet- remain in great demand.
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