US subs operating from Perth ‘could be nuclear-armed’, Senate estimates hears
Defence officials have conceded US Virginia-class submarines that will operate from Western Australia could be armed with nuclear weapons and the Australian government would not object.
The Defence Department has conceded US Virginia-class submarines that will operate from Western Australia could be armed in the future with nuclear weapons and the Australian government would not object.
Greens senator David Shoebridge quizzed the department in a Senate committee hearing over the US’s development of a sea-launched nuclear cruise missile for its Virginia-class submarines, up to four of which will operate from HMAS Stirling near Perth from 2027.
Defence officials said the US understood Australia’s position that stationing such weapons in Australia was prohibited under the Treaty of Rarotonga, but the Australian government did not press the US on whether its vessels and aircraft carried such weapons.
“We respect the United States position of neither confirming nor denying,” Defence secretary Greg Moriarty told Senate estimates.
The federal government maintains a similar policy in relation to nuclear-capable US bombers that operate from the Northern Territory.
The committee also heard the Australian Defence Force would rely on Papua New Guinea, France and the US to help monitor a heavily armed Chinese naval flotilla amid concerns it could head south towards Australia.
Chief of the Defence Force David Johnston said the ADF maintained a high degree of situational awareness across the region and was confident it could track the four-vessel task group.
The presence of the vessels has raised fears of a repeat of the February circumnavigation of Australia by a Chinese naval task group, which conducted a live weapons drill that the government learned of from a Virgin Airlines pilot.
Admiral Johnston said the latest flotilla was observed on Tuesday in the Philippine Sea about 500 nautical miles north of Palau by an RAAF surveillance aircraft.
It was made up of a Yushen-class helicopter assault ship, a Renhai-class cruiser, a Jiangkai-class frigate and Fuchi-class replenishment vessel, he said.
“If they move into the Southwest Pacific, we would work with our Pacific partners in that area, the French in New Caledonia, PNG,” Admiral Johnston told a Senate estimates hearing.
“It very much depends on where the ships might proceed. Of course, we work closely with the United States … to bring the best of our capabilities together.
“I am very confident – depending on where the task group goes, and certainly … if it were to get closer to Australia – in our ability to provide air-based surveillance, maritime based surveillance, where it’s relevant. But it, of course, depends on what the task group does.”
PNG’s military is poorly equipped, with four Australian-supplied patrol boats and no air force, and has had trouble paying its catering bills to feed its defence personnel. France has a more capable military presence in the region, maintaining sea and air capabilities in New Caledonia.
Admiral Johnston reiterated his past warning that China would increasingly make such voyages and operate in Australia’s immediate region.
Meanwhile, he conceded the ADF was top-heavy, declaring he was trying to cut back the numbers of senior commanders.
Admiral Johnston said the ADF had 234 star-ranked officers, one of the highest concentrations of top brass in the world for the size of the force.
Senator Shoebridge challenged him on the amount of “gold braid” in the nation’s armed forces.
Admiral Johnston said: “I am very conscious of the size of the star rank positions. We have introduced a process that has us reviewing every one of those positions over a cyclic basis to determine the work value associated with them, the military expertise required of them, the rank level associated with them.
“We are running through all of the positions to determine what the appropriate rank level is.
“We’ve applied a similar criteria for new positions when they may be considered, to ensure they’re the subject of a test.”
He said the ranks of senior commanders had grown over time due to the introduction of complex new roles, including space and cyber positions and the sovereign guided weapons program.
Officials also defended the government’s “biggest reform in 50 years” to the Defence Department, but Mr Moriarty was unable to say how much the changes would cost.
“Whatever the costs of doing an internal department reorganisation, (they) will be met within departmental resources, as has always been the case,” he said.
He rejected Senator Shoebridge’s suggestion the new procurement body was a rerun of the former Defence Materiel Organisation axed a decade ago.
Mr Moriarty said the new Defence Delivery Agency would have more autonomy over its budget and report directly to its ministers, unlike the DMO, and would have a mandate to build a skilled public service workforce.
He objected to Senator Shoebridge’s assertion that he and the Chief of Defence had been cut out of procurement because they were “part of the problem”.
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