• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Excelitas Qioptiq banner

BATTLESPACE Updates

   +44 (0)77689 54766
   

  • Home
  • Features
  • News Updates
  • Defence Engage
  • Company Directory
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media Pack 2023

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE YEAR IN REVIEW

December 7, 2011 by

07 Dec 11. Minister for Defence Materiel Speech: Year in Review.

Thank you.

It’s not widely known, but the steel hull of the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle wasn’t designed for trucks.

It was originally designed for our Frigates in the 1980s. Then adapted for our Collins Class submarines – then adapted again for use on the Bushmasters.

It is no ordinary steel.

I saw that when I was in Afghanistan in July.

I crawled under a bushmaster that had been hit by an IED.

There were large salad bowl shaped bulges in the steel where the bomb had exploded. The steel had buckled – but it hadn’t ripped apart.

The steel took the force of the blast – and all eight men inside walked out.

It’s a good example of what the Australian defence industry does – and what Australian engineers can do.

Cutting edge work for Navy in the 1980s that’s saving lives in another decade, in Army, on the other side of the world.

Defence often gets a bad rap – but we have a lot to be proud of.

And we have done a lot of good work this year:
* We’ve increased project approvals;
* We are implementing important reforms to the way we buy and maintain equipment;
* We have delivered a lot of new equipment to our troops; and
* We’ve fixed a number of problem projects as well.

Increased Approvals

Over the past ten years the average number of Defence projects approved by the Federal Government each year has been 28.

So far this year we’ve approved 35 projects – worth more than $6 billion – and we’re not done yet, there’s more to come in the next few weeks.

Some of the projects we’ve approved this year include:
* New Romeo SeaHawk Naval Helicopters;
* A new missile defence system for our Anzac frigates; and
* 101 more Bushmasters.

Reform

This has also been a year of reform.

This year the Minister for Defence and I announced 42 reforms to improve the way we purchase, maintain and dispose of military equipment.

Last week we issued a progress report on their implementation.

A dozen have now been fully implemented. Implementation of the rest is underway.

New Equipment

In 2011 we’ve also delivered a lot of new equipment to our troops.

In Air Force:
* 24 new Super Hornet fighter jets have been delivered – under budget and ahead of schedule;
* Three of our five new Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft have been accepted – and the final two will be accepted next year; and
* We took delivery of our fifth C17 heavy lift aircraft this year – and we are considering an order for a sixth.
In Navy:
* The Anti Ship Missile Defence System on HMAS Perth has proven very effective and we’ve decided to roll the system out across the rest of the ANZAC fleet;
* The first AWD blocks have been shipped here to Adelaide from Melbourne; and
* The HMAS Choules has been purchased and arrived in Western Australia yesterday.
Perhaps most important of all – in Army we have delivered a lot of new equipment to protect our troops in Afghanistan:
* New lighter combat body armour and a new combat uniform;
* Longer range machine guns;
* Upgrades to our Bushmaster vehicles in Afghanistan to make them even safer; and
* We have installed a counter rocket system at Tarin Kot (and at a number of our forward operating bases) to warn troops of rocket attacks. So far this year they have provided advanced warning of 23 attacks.
Fixing Problems

It has also been a year with plenty of challenges.

A good example of this are our amphibious ships.

When Cyclone Yasi hit North Queensland in February we had no amphibious ships available to help.

Now we have two – next week we will have three.

The Minister for Defence and I made no secret of our disappointment with our amphibious ships – and we have taken a number of steps to rectify the problem.

In April we purchased the RFA Largs Bay from the British Government and next week she will be commissioned HMAS Choules – n

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • qioptiq.com
  • Exensor
  • TCI
  • Visit the Oxley website
  • Visit the Viasat website
  • Blighter
  • SPECTRA
  • Britbots logo
  • Faun Trackway
  • Systematic
  • CISION logo
  • ProTEK logo
  • businesswire logo
  • ProTEK logo
  • ssafa logo
  • Atkins
  • IEE
  • EXFOR logo
  • DSEi
  • sibylline logo
  • Team Thunder logo
  • Commando Spirit - Blended Scoth Whisy
  • Comtech logo
  • GoExporting logo
  • Supercat logo
  • Galvion logo
Hilux Military Raceday Novemeber 2023 Chepstow SOF Week 2023

Contact Us

BATTLESPACE Publications
Old Charlock
Abthorpe Road
Silverstone
Towcester NN12 8TW

+44 (0)77689 54766

BATTLESPACE Technologies

An international defence electronics news service providing our readers with up to date developments in the defence electronics industry.

Recent News

  • On D-Day Anniversary, Austin, Milley Call on All to Defend Democracy

    June 6, 2023
    Read more
  • BATTLESPACE Counter Unmanned Air System (C-UAS) Supplement

    June 6, 2023
    Read more
  • PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

    June 2, 2023
    Read more

Copyright BATTLESPACE Publications © 2002–2023.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. If you continue to use the website, we'll assume you're ok with this.   Read More  Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT