PODCAST: ADF promotions, Middle East aftershocks and dreaded Defence budget cuts

Joint-capabilities
|
By: Robyn Tongol

Can Australia balance the cost of expanding its drone-based attack and defence capabilities on a shoestring budget? Industry is rightly worried about possible cost cuts.

Can Australia balance the cost of expanding its drone-based attack and defence capabilities on a shoestring budget? Industry is rightly worried about possible cost cuts.

In an editorial discussion for this episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, Stephen Kuper, Robert Dougherty and Bethany Alvaro take a run at a burgeoning week of news across Australia’s defence landscape and how international conflict in the Middle East is rippling outwards to pressure fuel supplies Down Under.

The team also examines the recent promotion of Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AO RAN to become the next chief of the Defence Force and the appointment of Lieutenant General Susan Coyle AM CSC DSM as the next chief of the Australian Army, the first woman to hold the position.

 
 

The conversation then explores the newly signed Major Defense Cooperation Partnership agreement and joint special forces training between hardline governments in the US and Indonesia.

Turning to defence industry, the panel puts a speculative spotlight on dreaded Defence budget cuts and reallocations under the release of the new National Defence Strategy.

Finally, the team tackles new ship manufacturing updates in Sydney around the Royal Australian Navy’s Hunter Class frigate program.

Enjoy the podcast,
The Defence Connect team

Click here to listen on your device

Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Defence Connect a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Defence Connect as a preferred news source.

Tags:

Listen to previous episodes of the Defence Connect podcast:

Episode 11: CONTESTED GROUND: Weak, vulnerable, backwater – Australia’s choice between strategic camps and managed decline
Episode 10: PODCAST: Undersea dominance – Australia charts the maritime future through autonomous systems and AUKUS innovation
Episode 9: PODCAST: Australian Army Cadets pathways, submarine industry growth and Australia’s fuel security
Episode 8: CONTESTED GROUND: The blind faith factor – why Australians trust an ADF they don’t understand
Episode 7: PODCAST: Defence preparedness, artificial intelligence productivity, and Australian industrial resilience
Episode 6: CONTESTED GROUND: Shots fired! Chinese missile test shatters Australia’s ‘fog of peace’, with Mike Pezzullo
Episode 5: SPOTLIGHT: Counter-drone innovation, directed energy and delivering operational outcomes, with EOS Defence Systems’ Lee Kormany
Episode 4: PODCAST: Strengthening security ties, Fiji defence pact and Australia’s counter-drone push
Episode 3: CONTESTED GROUND: Lessons from the UK in political polarisation, generational dislocation and intergenerational warfare, with Ben Dullroy, Bravo Delta Advisory
Episode 2: PODCAST: Defence Industry Development Strategy, Defence reform and Australians fighting in Ukraine