A defence force has to have three things work well to be effective: it has to recruit and retain...
Defence Budget
Landing craft create paths for shipbuilding
Finally there is some good news in the defence shipbuilding space. On Thursday 24 November, the...
AUKUS Plan B: delivering greater military power faster – the B-21 Raider
After the release of the damning – self-written – summary of the Defence leadership’s failed...
The Travel and Accountability edition: Tuvalu, leadership failure and the Hunter frigates – and the B-21
The Travel and Accountability Edition: Tuvalu, leadership failure & the Hunter frigates, and the...
Hoping no one joins the dots: what Mr Albanese’s three visit journey shows the world
You have to wonder what Joe Biden, Xi Jinping and Cook Islands’ Mark Brown make of prime minister...
Aust-US alliance is thriving in new areas, less healthy at its military core
Anthony Albanese’s visit to America has done three things. It has broadened the ambition for the...
Grumpy Strategists: The Estimates Edition
The Estimates Edition: a recruitment crisis, fragile fleets & lessons from America | RSS.com In...
Defence budget gloom sinks in
“Gentlemen, we have run out of money, now we have to think”, is a quote attributed both to the...
Battlefield helicopters: the ghost of failed capability transitions yet to come?
The ghost of Christmas yet to come scared the bejesus out of old Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles...
Solomons plus Beijing-Timor ties signals critical moment in our region’s security
There was a touch of Fidel Castro in Manasseh Sogavare’s speech at the UN last week. In a...
Triton drones: Defence is on autopilot, with Ministers along for the ride
The Department of Defence has convinced Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and the PM-chaired...
Australia & Triton: a user’s guide for what not to do with UAVs
One element of President Biden’s FY2024 defense budget that has not attracted much attention here...
Podcast: the Defence Strategic Review health check
Health check on Australia's Defence Strategic Review | RSS.com In this first Grumpy Strategist...
Talisman Sabre 2023: big lessons from a large exercise
The biggest version of Talisman Sabre ever conducted ended on 8 August. This high-end...
Is Albanese serious about tackling Defence reform?
Australia’s defence industry leaders typically operate below the radar when it comes to critiquing...
Do we have a viable military strategy?
With the Albanese government’s adoption of the Defence Strategic Review, Australia’s defence...
12 questions on the 2023-24 Defence budget
Australia needs to mobilise in order to address the strategic challenges it is facing. The Defence...
Biden skipping Sydney Quad meeting’s bad, but our underwhelming Strategic Review is worse
US President Joe Biden’s decision not to attend a summit of the Quad countries in Sydney is...
Defence Budget 2023-24: Living in the past
The bottom line up front: The Albanese government’s May Defence budget is disconnected from its...
Unpacking the DSR dollars
Like all big policy statements, the public version of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR), released...