Defence Strategic Review calls for a more lethal military to handle China expansion

A new strategic focus calls for a more lethal navy, army optimised for amphibious operations, and an air force designed to support operations to the nation’s north.

The Australian Defence Force will be transformed into a more agile, lethal force, capable of mounting missile strikes and amphibious ­assaults far from the mainland under an ambitious blueprint to respond to China’s unprecedented military expansion.

But, despite “the most challenging strategic circumstances” since 1945, the government is ­refusing to increase the Defence budget for at least four years and has deferred key multibillion-dollar decisions on the future of the navy’s surface fleet.

The government’s Defence Strategic Review, released on Monday, warns Australia’s strategic circumstances have “radically” worsened, to the point that “we now face as a nation the prospect of major conflict in the region that directly threatens our national ­interest”.

It says the ADF, designed to deter low-level threats, is “no longer fit for purpose” in a more dangerous era when the US is no longer the region’s only major power.

“Intense China-United States competition is the defining feature of our region and our time,” the ­review says.

It adds that China has undergone “the largest and most ambitious” military build-up of any country in the past 80 years.

Click here to read the full defence strategic review

“Major power competition in our region has the potential to threaten our interests, including the potential for conflict,” it says.

The 110-page declassified ­version of the review foreshadows an overhaul of the structure of the ADF with a radically recast role for the army, which will operate new land-based missile systems and focus on amphibious operations in the island chains to the nation’s north.

It calls for a navy with greater firepower and foreshadows a shift towards smaller, heavily armed vessels. However, the review does not say whether this would involve the construction of a new fleet of fast corvettes.

 

It also gives no clarity on the ­future of the $45bn Hunter-class frigate program, or whether the government will buy more air ­warfare destroyers. The decision will be subject to a fresh review that will report to the government by the end of September.

The air force’s F35 joint strike fighters will be armed with new long-range anti-ship missiles and land-attack joint strike missiles, while the Australian-developed Ghost Bat drone will be prioritised in collaboration with the US.

The RAAF’s northern bases will be hardened, and developed as regional logistic hubs, with more fuel reserves and missile stocks. The government maintains the ­review protects the local defence industry by promising a continuous shipbuilding program in both Adelaide and Perth, and a fast-tracked domestic guided weapons enterprise, protecting jobs and strengthening national resilience.

The new strategy is not backed by additional funding over the four-year budget period, with $7.8bn reallocated from deprioritised programs, and $11bn already provisioned for in the existing ­Defence budget.

Anthony Albanese said higher Defence spending would be ­required beyond the forward estimates, but declined to say how much more taxpayers would have to pay to fund the overhaul of the nation’s military capabilities.

The review also includes a major revamp of Defence’s underperforming procurement arm to prioritise more cost-efficient outcomes and “abandon its pursuit of the perfect solution” with the aim of rapidly putting “minimum viable capabilities” in the hands of ADF personnel.

The government says the nation’s new strategic posture will contribute to collective security in the Indo-Pacific. China reacted angrily, accusing Australia of ­hyping “Chinese threat arguments” as an excuse to expand its military power. “We hope that some countries will not use China as an excuse to expand their military power, and do not hype groundless Chinese threat arguments,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

The government has accepted all 62 recommendations in the public version of the review, but the fate of a further 46 recommendations proposed by the review’s leads, former defence minister Stephen Smith and former chief of the defence force Angus Houston, remains unclear.

 

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government would prioritise the acquisition of new long-range strike capabilities, the development of the northern bases, and getting new weapons technologies into service sooner. It will also invest in Defence recruitment and retention, and improve co-operation with regional defence forces.

“There are a lot of tough decisions which need to be made, but in doing so, we are making them in the best interest of our defence force and our nation,” Mr Marles said. “Work to implement the review starts today, ensuring our ADF and our defence personnel have the capability they need to keep Australians safe.”

The government has agreed to issue an inaugural national defence strategy in 2024, which will be updated every two years, replacing periodic white papers.

The review justifies the more forward-leading defence policy saying “the threat of the use of military force or coercion against Australia does not require invasion”, and the country’s national interests, including its trade routes, needed to be defended deep into the region.

“The rise of the ‘missile age’ in modern warfare, crystallised by the proliferation of long-range precision strike weapons, has radically reduced Australia’s geographic benefits, the comfort of distance and our qualitative regional capability edge,” it says.

While calling for greater military self-reliance, the review reaffirms the importance of Australia’s strategic partnership with the US, saying Australia must rely on America to defend against “higher level threats”.

It warns climate change is “amplifying our challenges”, requiring the ADF to support more humanitarian operations in the region and disaster relief at home, which have “negatively affected force preparedness, readiness and combat effectiveness”.

It says the ADF “must be the force of last resort for domestic aid to the civil community”.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain, attacked the review as an exercise in delays and “strategic double-speak”.

“We won’t see any new money. We see the government funding the DSR recommendations through offsets, cannibalising capability,” Mr Hastie said.

He said the deep cut to the army’s infantry fighting vehicle order, from 450 to 129, represented “a degradation of land power”.

The Prime Minister said the review would guide his government as it reshaped the ADF for the future.

“It demonstrates that in a world where challenges to our national security are always evolving, we cannot fall back on old assumptions,” Mr Albanese said.

“We must build and strengthen our security by seeking to shape the future rather than waiting for the future to shape us.”

High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps launch rockets during a firepower demonstration held at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, during Talisman Sabre 2021. Picture: Defence Imagery