Fallout from the High Tech Military
Australia feels the pinch from increased defense spending. More evidence that the high tech military is giving us very pretty, very costly weapons that are increasingly useless for fighting today’s wars:
As the Government puts the finishing touches to the new defense white paper, it is gearing up for a public relations blitz about the futuristic, sleek and powerful Australian Defense Force of tomorrow.
What the Defense Department won’t tell you is that, as things stand, most of Australia’s warplanes and ships cannot be sent to any conflict involving an opponent with a half-decent air defense system and modern anti-ship missiles.
Across the entire ADF, an alarming amount of expensive military equipment is not in a suitable upgraded condition to be sent to war. This is the legacy of project mismanagement and a Defense Department mindset that focuses more heavily on the defense force of tomorrow than on the force of today.
To put it simply, the price of the weapons Western militaries wish to buy, out of all reality, are taking away from the systems desperately needed for the wars we already are engaged in. The antidote is simple: stop investing in Big Ticket weapons which were designed to fight the Cold War, and adapted to fighting low tech enemies of today’s Hybrid Conflicts. Pouring new wine in these old bottles will only make the whole thing burst, meaning here the increasingly strained defense budget.
