Are we ready? Arsenal of Democracy 2.0 good to go? Let’s consider the state of the Australian (Defence) Industrial base… ⬇️
How long could Australia fight if a major power war began tomorrow? Can Australia replenish its weapon stocks quickly and reliably? Can we supply our allies and partners in time of need? Three years on from the release of the Defence Strategic Review it is prudent to consider what progress has been achieved.
The Council on Foreign Relations ‘The President’s Inbox’ has an excellent podcast series asking the question ‘Are We Ready’. The series focuses on a number of key components of national power and the one that caught our eye is on ‘America’s Crumbling Defence Industrial Base’. While they are focused on the United States, there is so much relevance for the Australian context as well. We’ll add a link to this episode in the comments and commend the series to you.
“It seemed for years the United States military predicated its strategy and notion that we would be able to overmatch anyone we faced, that they may have more weapons, that we would have much better weapons. And I think we saw that logic play out in the Gulf War and then in the Iraq War where the quality of U.S. weapons, precision munitions, among other things, and the advantage we had in censors, intelligence, satellites, and the rest gave us a decided advantage. To now we’re in a war or a world in which it looks like cheaper and smaller may overwhelm, better and more expensive given just the challenges of being overwhelmed by drones.”
Australia has become comfortable with the same assumptions – add in a presumption that quality overcomes quantity and that distance will keep us safe. In the coming months the next iteration of the National Defence Strategy and the accompanying Integrated Investment Program will be released. It remains to be seen if a review and refresh of the Defence Industry Development Plan follows. Regardless, we can expect a great focus on what has been achieved and what has not as Australia seeks to build a focused and integrated force fit for purpose for the most dangerous geopolitical circumstances in our region since WWII.
Let’s see if Australia is ready to play a greater role in what US Defense Secretary calls the Arsenal of Freedom. We can’t just take – we need to make.
Food for thought as always – and we commend the President’s Inbox podcast to you. Almost as good as ‘The Briefing Room’!
📷 WWII photo of a worker the Douglas Aircraft Company plant via Alfred T. Palmer for the United States Office of War Information