Dutton gives US Blackhawk helicopters the thumbs up

Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s decision to back the known quantity of the US Blackhawk helicopter, cutting adrift the troubled the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, is the right one – and not before time. As Greg Sheridan’s news report on Friday makes clear, the Taipan is simply not reliable enough to count on for conflict. It hasn’t lived up to the expected flying time, and a design problem has hampered effective use of its door gun. On Friday, Mr Dutton said it was “critically important there is a safe, reliable and capable utility helicopter available for our service men and women into the future, with reasonable and predictable operating costs”.

The Howard government had been influenced by the Airbus plan to make Taipan helicopters here in Australia, with the politically appealing promise of a boost to industry and jobs. Mr Dutton’s switch to the proven, off-the-shelf Blackhawk also makes sense in light of the closer co-operation with US forces under the aegis of the AUKUS pact.

Aside from the politics of local manufacture, the besetting flaws in defence acquisition have been bureaucratic complacency, poor project management and a reluctance to stop shovelling good money after bad. Mr Dutton has been minister less than a year but already he has brought a sense of urgency and seriousness of purpose befitting the rapid deterioration in our strategic outlook. Witness the shift away from the risky French submarine project to the AUKUS pact with its pathway to nuclear-powered boats for Australia.

Earlier this year, Mr Dutton deployed ironic humour as a comment on the decades of drift and inaction in defence, remarking that “the real joy of this job (as minister) is I get to deliver programs from decisions that were made one, two, three, even six predecessors ago”. He and fellow members of the national security committee are acutely aware that military conflict may not be far off, that our defence force is seriously underdone, and that the unhurried lead times of past acquisitions are simply not good enough.

In his historic National Press Club address last month, Mr Dutton was blunt: “Defence and defence industry can no longer be satisfied with a business-as-usual mindset. Instead, they must be driven by a mission of utmost national significance and urgency.” Willingness to cut losses on underperforming assets – the European Tiger helicopters also have been ditched – should strengthen the arm of the minister in handling delays to other projects.

Last month, Mr Dutton said: “As the government proceeds with its defence capability plans, we will expect more rigorous accountability from defence industry. We will have less tolerance for project lags.” The $45bn Future Frigates program, to be delivered by Britain’s BAE Systems, is at least two years late and has had serious design problems.

One of Mr Dutton’s strengths as Defence Minister is his plain speaking as he takes the Australian people into his confidence about the serious risk of a hot war in our region and our urgent need for better deterrence. Last month, he pointed out that “averaged over the past four years, China has built new naval vessels to the equivalent tonnage of the entire Royal Australian Navy fleet every 18 months”. And he made the sobering observation that every major city in Australia is within range of China’s fast-growing stock of missiles. He is right to say Australians expect honesty – and “to not ring-fence them from difficult issues or insult their intelligence”.

So far, Mr Dutton has been sure-footed in a ministry used to lacklustre performances, although he will be conscious of the risk that his rhetoric may get too far ahead of our real-world defence capabilities.