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

Joint-capabilities
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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

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Listen to previous episodes of the Defence Connect podcast:

Episode 11: CONTESTED GROUND: Successive governments have failed to prepare Australia for the era of polycrisis, with Marc Ablong PSM, Geostrategic Risk Partners
Episode 10: SPOTLIGHT: Crewed, uncrewed, mass and increasing contemporary maritime combat capabilities, with Kevin ‘Q’ Quarderer of Leidos Australia and MAJGEN (Ret’d) Mick Ryan
Episode 9: PODCAST: Fleet readiness, future warfare and Australia’s naval strategy, with Commodore Antony Pisani
Episode 8: THE PROGRESS REPORT: Direct hit over Baghdad – the pilot who outflew a surface-to-air missile
Episode 7: SPOTLIGHT: Subs may be the centrepiece – but infrastructure, workforce and sovereign capability will decide the outcome, with Stantec’s Chris Waywell, Rob Sansbury and Robert Fogel
Episode 6: CONTESTED GROUND: Apathy, complacency and the ‘Lucky Country’, Australia’s predicament is entirely self-inflicted, with Ben Dullroy
Episode 5: SPECIAL EDITION PODCAST: 125 years of the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Army
Episode 4: CONTESTED GROUND: Australian resilience during a crisis and sovereign industrial capability
Episode 3: CONTESTED GROUND: From Tehran to Sydney – why war could reshape Australian property
Episode 2: SPOTLIGHT: Inside Australia’s AUKUS industrial transformation, with Honeywell Aerospace Australia senior director Lee Davis