Act local pay attention to global! It affects us here locally.
Professor Ross Babbage one of the chief military advisers to the Federal Government says in his report “Australia’s Strategic Edge 2030” Australia will need 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines along with 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.
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 investments. He also calls for Australia to host a range of American military bases.
He thinks this is necessary because China’s (People’s Liberation Army) extremely aggressive military build-up has transformed Australia’s strategic environment making it much more dangerous. He believes that China’s massive military expansion is focused on striking the United States and allied forces in the Western Pacific and that this has been accompanied by much more aggressive military and diplomatic behaviour by Beijing.
He says that this is not a question of distant threats to Australia’s region but of direct threats to Australia itself as it is within range of many existing Chinese weapons systems.
He identifies a vast range of Chinese military capabilities that are on a massive growth path. These include cruise and ballistic missiles a massive investment in cyber-warfare new classes of both nuclear and conventionally powered submarines including more than 40 new subs since 1995; a massive increase in nuclear weapons that will double or triple in number by 2030; a huge investment in space warfare that could destroy the communications satellites which are central to the Western way of war; and a massive increase in fighter bomber and other airborne strike capabilities.
He does not believe Australia can match Chinese capabilities but his strategic response consists of two elements: strengthening the US military position in Asia; and to do what China is doing to the US: developing an asymmetric ability to use a smaller force to impose massive costs in the event of any conflict. This would help to deter Chinese military adventurism and avoid conflict.
Well that all cheered me up.