God bless America:
Australia will help make missiles for the United States under plans to establish a local guided weapons industry after the Ukraine war exposed the danger of western stockpiles being quickly exhausted.
The boost to Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise (GWEO), will be one of the key announcements from talks between the defence and foreign ministers and senior officials from the two countries being held on Saturday.
Supplying the US with missiles will help underpin local manufacturing, ensure Australia has easy access to its own supply missiles and give the Americans an important secondary source of production and storage.
We’d never do this by ourselves. We can barely make our explosives; Albo’s industrial and gas policies are so bad.
There’s a lot more to do. Peter Jennings:
Perhaps the most significant decision was on “the potential for co-production of guided multiple launch rocket systems by 2025”. This would enable the US to build and stockpile weapons in Australia of a type we have seen in high demand in Ukraine, with ranges between 70 and 150km.
These are not the long-range missiles Australia needs for its ships and aircraft, but a kickstart – any start at all – in missile production is urgently needed. There is a passing reference to “enhance trilateral Integrated Air and Missile Defence co-operation with Japan”.
The bottom line of this year’s AUSMIN meeting is that the US is moving to do more in northern Australia as part of its dispersal strategy dealing with a more threatening China.
US military positioning is vital but this AUSMIN was not about rapidly re-equipping the ADF. Thanks to government and Defence management failures, Richard Marles knows almost nothing can be done to significantly up-gun the ADF within the decade.
But wait, there’s more after AUSMIN, James Curran writes:
Key RAAF airfields in northern Australia, at Darwin and Tindal, will be further developed. Site surveys will be undertaken to upgrade two new locations, airfields at RAAF Scherger and RAAF Curtin.
In the longer term, US Army logistics and materiel are to be pre-positioned in Queensland. US intelligence officials will soon be based at a Combined Intelligence Centre in Canberra. Both sides are looking to space again, but with little additional detail.
There will be more flights into Australia by US Navy maritime patrol aircraft, regular rotations of US army watercraft and, from this year, “more regular and longer visits” by US nuclear attack-class submarines to HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.
For the first time, US nuclear-capable B52 bombers – known as “stratofortresses” – held joint exercises in Indonesia earlier this month. Washington also recently agreed with Manila the use of four new bases in the Philippines, to supply Tokyo with tomahawk cruise missiles that can strike China, and to fast-track $US345 million of defence equipment, services and training to Taipei.
Excellent stuff. The liberal democracies of the region are hemming in China, and Australia is the Asia-Pacific NATO’s southern anchor.
This has ended the threat of Chinese gunboat diplomacy silently occupying Canberra. More:
The central question now is whether these developments, carrying bipartisan endorsement over the last two decades, are transforming the country into a base for offensive US operations into Asia. Government language stresses deterrence rather than projection, but the debate is on as to where that line now blurs.
Of course, they can be offensive. And they will compromise Australia’s ability to maneuver between the superpowers. We have chosen the US.
Australia has made an art form of dependent allegiance; needling, manipulating, using and supporting its great and powerful friends to its benefit. It will do so again.
Doubtless, Washington has got the heat on Albo over the Darwin Port just down the road too:
Uncertainty over the future of the Chinese-owned Port of Darwin has emerged as a barrier to the restoration of relations with Beijing, which says tensions over the “blue bridge” between the countries could slow the relaxation of trade sanctions on Australian exports.
As Anthony Albanese weighs an invitation to visit Beijing before the end of the year, a senior Chinese government official urged the “quick conclusion” of a review of the port’s Chinese ownership, saying the issue was undermining the stabilisation of bilateral ties.
Can the trip. The relationship is structurally buggered. Pretending otherwise isn’t doing Australia any good.
To wit, the CCP mouthpiece, Global Times, is back to its charming best:
Behind Canberra’s compliance with Washington lies its desire to expand its own influence. When Marles said that Australia has no better friend than the US, these words might conceal Australia’s self-satisfaction of being the self-proclaimed “deputy sheriff.” It is understandable for Australia to develop missiles for defense purposes, but it must be said that the true cost of Washington’s so-called “assistance” which aims at curbing and deterring China, laced with a display of military provocation, is likely too high for Canberra to bear.
Australia has been involved in nearly every overseas war initiated by the US, seemingly falling into a path of habitual dependency on supporting and participating in American adventurism. However, in terms of its own territory, Australia has never faced a genuine external threat and lacks the necessary risk awareness. By serving as the frontline base for Washington’s aggression toward China, Australia is essentially tying itself with explosives and placing the lit fuse in the hands of Washington politicians known for their adventurous and provocative thinking toward China. If Australia provides a stronghold or arms for deterring or attacking China, it will undoubtedly face resolute retaliation from China. This is not alarmist talk but military common sense; Australia must not harbor any illusions.
We note that some insightful individuals in Australia have concerns about this. The current government has made efforts to improve bilateral relations, but the US-Australia military agreement has significantly offset those previous efforts and created a substantial impediment to the substantive improvement and development of China-Australia relations. We want to emphasize that, in matters related to China’s core interests and Australia’s own future and destiny, the Australian government has no room for making foolish decisions.
Suck it up, princess.
