Posted on 02/04/2011 11:03:40 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
.'Boost military' to take on China: adviser
EXCLUSIVE Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor
From: The Australian February 05, 2011
AUSTRALIA will need nuclear-powered attack submarines among a range of highly potent weapons systems, and must revolutionise its strategic culture to answer the security dangers posed by China's massive military build-up, according to one of the federal government's chief military advisers. Ross Babbage, who served on the government's advisory panel for the 2009 Defence white paper, believes Australia should acquire a fleet of 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines.
He also favours developing a conventionally armed cruise and ballistic missile capability to be carried on new "arsenal ships", as well as a massive increase in Australia's cyber-warfare investment.
In a report to be published on Monday, Australia's Strategic Edge 2030, Professor Babbage calls for Australia to host a range of American military bases. This would help disperse US military assets and make them harder to hit in the event of military conflict with China.
It would also emphasise the strength and intimacy of the US-Australia alliance and discourage any aggression against Australia, as any hostile power would fear that this would automatically involve the Americans.
Professor Babbage, the founder of the influential Kokoda Foundation security think tank, believes all this is necessary because China's extremely aggressive military build-up has transformed Australia's strategic environment, making it much more dangerous.
"Australia cannot overlook the way that the scale, pattern and speed of (Chinese) People's Liberation Army's development is altering security in the Western Pacific," Professor Babbage argues in the new paper, which has been obtained by The Weekend Australian.
Professor Babbage believes that China's massive military expansion is focused on "striking United States and allied forces in the Western Pacific"
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
This is all fallout from Obama’s plans to gut the US Navy. If the US is down to four carriers (with three in service at any time) then our allies are going to need to step up on their defense. The Aussies are particularly nervous about powerful Asian countries having already been the target of one of them in living memory.
I applaud their efforts to build up. May I suggest an aircraft carrier or two also. I think it’s also time that Japan change it’s constitution and start building up her Navy. She is a traditional maritime power and as an island nation should have a strong capable Navy.
Well thanks to globalization the commies have been able to build up a well armed modern force capable of global war fare. It was pretty short sighted to implement all those unfair trade agreements not to mention what it did to our own economy and sovereignty.
They should just buy Britan’s Navy, since the Brits don’t want it any longer. There’s a lot of second hand MBTs around they could get cheap.
Once they soak up that lot, the US should have plenty of ships and subs to sell due to Our Dear Leader’s unilateral disarmament plans.
The only problem is that by the time Obama’s second term is over, there won’t be enough left of the US military to disperse in the US, let alone Oz.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.