HMAS Stalwart conducts a dual replenishment at sea with HMA Ships Brisbane and Toowoomba (Source: Defence)
Naval power is now front and centre for the Albanese Government, with an emphasis on urgency, distributed firepower and numbers set to transform the Royal Australian Navy, but has the Surface Fleet Review truly delivered this and what are we now getting?
Providing bountiful avenues for trade, a source of food and ancient foundation myths, from the earliest days of human settlement in Australia, the ocean has played an ever increasing role in the fabric of everyday Australian life.
In contemporary life, this has only become more important, as the largest island continent on the planet with a maritime jurisdiction of in excess of 8 million square kilometres, Australia, as a nation and a people, is defined by its relationship with the ocean.
The importance of this link to the regional and global maritime commons has only become more importance over the last half decade, as COVID and mounting global tensions off the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas which have now spread to engulf the Middle East.
Further compounding this is Australia’s uneasy relationship with the historic concept known as the “tyranny of distance” which is now rapidly being replaced by a “predicament of proximity”.
The rise of this “predicament of proximity” has only been accelerated by the rapid and unprecedented expansion of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy under Xi Jinping’s ambitious and aggressive new reimagining of Communist China.
Recognising this fundamental strategic and tactical reality, the Albanese government’s Defence Strategic Review has moved to reshape the Royal Australian Navy into a flexible, future-proofed force capable of meeting the tactical and strategic operational requirements placed upon the service by the nation’s policy makers.
At the core of this renewed emphasis, the review states, “Australia’s Navy must be optimised for operating Australia’s immediate region and for the security of our sea lines of communication and maritime trade”.
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