FEATURED ARTICLES
Collins subs life extension realities & Permits for Everyone: the lazy new SAMS law
Episode 19 - Collins subs life extension realities | RSS.com In Episode 19, the Grumpy Strategists set out practical ways that $multibillion plans for keeping Australia's Collins class subs operating will need to change to enable the AUKUS Virginia...
This trial hasn’t finished Trump — it has invigorated him
It remains to be seen if Donald Trump’s conviction on felony counts in a New York courtroom will have any material impact on the US presidential election in November. It’s clear many American voters would prefer different candidates. At least they...
What role should the Collins Life of Type Extension play in Australia’s submarine transition?
Key Points The plan to put all six Collins-class submarines through an extensive and risky life of type extension (LOTE) that could keep some in service well into the 2040s is an artefact of the previous submarine transition plan that aimed to reach...
The Musk Algorithm and the Sabotage Manual from WW2: which best explains your organisation?
“If you have never been punched in the nose, you have no idea how it affects the rest of your life” is how Elon Musk explains his childhood and introduces us to what drives him in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk’s career so far. I started...
The Grumpy Strategist Makers’ Series Episode 4 – Austal
The Grumpy Strategist Makers' Series Episode - Aus | RSS.com Michael Shoebridge talks with Paddy Gregg, CEO of Austal, about the company's history as a builder of commercial and military vessels for decades now. We discuss its stocked up order book...
Defence Force recruiting crisis: It’s time to recruit applicants who aren’t citizens
An important policy change set out in the 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) has been largely overlooked. The NDS states that Defence must fundamentally transform its recruitment practices and that this requires developing options for recruiting,...
Twelve questions for the Defence portfolio’s Senate estimates hearings
These questions are based on the information contained in the 2024 National Defence Statement (NDS), 2024 Integrated Investment Program (IIP) and 2024-25 Defence portfolio budget statements (PBS). Note: In this essay, ‘this year’ refers to the...
General purpose frigates: avoiding failure by fixing a troubled start
In February, the Albanese government’s Deputy Prime Minister (and Defence Minister) Richard Marles announced that Defence would be taking delivery of the first of 11 new ‘general purpose frigates’ this decade, with three of the ships to be delivered...
New president gives Australia chance to step up engagement with democratic Taiwan
On Monday 20 May, Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, was inaugurated as president of Taiwan, the self-ruling island of 23 million people. For the Democratic Progressive Party this is an unprecedented third term in the presidential palace,...
The post-Budget blues edition: Backloaded cash, unachievable plans and Collins dies young
The post Budget blues edition: Backloaded cash wit | RSS.com In Episode 18, the Grumpy Strategists look at the challenges, contradictions and half truths the numbers in the 2024 Defence Budget reveal. The headline early $5.7 billion turns out not to...
The 2024-25 Defence budget: one project to rule them
The name of the project to deliver Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) is now public: DEF 1. It’s an appropriate moniker for the one program destined to rule all of Defence. With the Defence portfolio budget statements (PBS) coming only a...
Truth Decay – some corrective action is necessary and possible
Australia’s Chief of Defence Force General Angus Campbell recently described the challenge of “truth decay”, where misinformation and emotions often intersect. This has played out in recent incidents in Bondi Junction and Western Sydney. An innocent...
China’s aggressive military shows Australia needs a new playbook
The latest dangerous aggression by China’s military against Australia’s defence personnel – dropping flares in front of a Navy helicopter enforcing United Nations sanctions – showed us two things. Xi Jinping is happy to see his fighter pilots and...
The 2024 Defence investment plan’s key changes – or ‘The Subs that ate the ADF’
Last week Strategic Analysis Australia published an analysis of the dollars in the Government’s new public version of the Defence Integrated Investment Program (IIP) that it released along with its National Defence Strategy. This week we’ll look at...
Beijing’s bullying needs to be called out, loud and clear
Defence Minister Richard Marles was absolutely right to call out China publicly for the “unsafe and unprofessional interaction” in which a People’s Liberation Army jet dropped flares in the flight path of an Australian helicopter operating off the...
Hate-filled slogans & the new normal of anger – both make the step to violence easier
Anthony Albanese lost control of ‘the voice’ referendum by his failure to lead the community. Now his government has lost control of how chunks of Australian society are reacting to the war in the Middle East. This time it isn’t about some...
Rolling back dangerous Chinese military behaviour – it starts with a phone call
It shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that a Chinese jet has endangered an Australian Navy helicopter and the lives of its crew by unprofessional flying and launching flares in front of it in the Yellow Sea. This is just one of hundreds of similar...
The numerology of Australia’s new National Defence Strategy & investment plan
The numerology of Australia's new National Defence | RSS.com In Episode 17, Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge assess the foundations of defence minister Richard Marles' new National Defence Strategy, looking for clarity and focus that the welter...
The National Defence Strategy’s 2 key shortfalls: strategic purpose & the nature of warfare
Years ago, a task often assigned graduates newly arrived in Defence was to draft responses to letters from the public. Responses would be composed by stitching together relevant ‘standard paragraphs’—pre-agreed words to common issues or concerns—then...
Unpacking the numbers in Defence’s new Integrated Investment Plan
On Wednesday 23 April, the Albanese Government released its National Defence Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Program (IIP). The NDS was foreshadowed in the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) and is meant to appear every two years, replacing...
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