By David Dunlop, 20 September 2021 The French government has immediately recalled their Ambassadors to the US and Australia amid the Australian government's decision to cancel the DCNS Barracuda Block 1A 12 boat submarine deal reached in 2016. Recalling an Ambassador from any country, especially with allied partners, is not […]
Australia
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By David Dunlop, 16 September 2021 Australia has now done an about-face and scrapped the 12 boat French DCNS Barracuda Block 1A submarine deal. The French/Naval Group naturally are livid but a deal among the US, UK and Australia has just been announced to transfer nuclear technology to Australia. Up […]
Dr. Ann Griffiths, 13 July 2021 An interesting (and somewhat puzzling) article was published in early 2021 in Australia’s defence forum The Forge. The article was written by Darin MacDonald and was entitled “JPME With a Purpose: Breaking Through the Mythology” The author is a former RCN member who is […]
In a short paper entitled “The Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard: Cooperating Sea Services of Co-existing Federal Fleets,” published through the CDFAI last June, Vice-Admiral (ret.) Jean-Yves Forcier addresses the issue of organizational relationships between the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy. The paper can be […]
The grounding of a Chinese bulk carrier Saturday on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia has raised a furore in the Australian press and with environmental protection groups around the globe. You can read a Reuters press report here. MV Shen Neng I (IMO Number 9040871) is owned by the […]
* Moderator’s Note: Reprinted with permission from Seaways, Journal of the Nautical Institute, September 2009, pp. 30-31. The focused intervention of foreign naval forces off the coast of Somalia raises as many questions as it answers. Why Somalia and not Nigeria or Indonesia? Why so much emphasis on treating it […]
*Moderators Note: This article is reprinted with permission from Seaways, Journal of the Nautical Institute, October 2009, pp. 25-26 After 16 months of careful preparation and stage managed partial disclosures, the orchestrated launch of “Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030” declared an apparent security paradigm for the […]
The Australian Defence White Paper (2009) is perhaps one of the clearest national statements outlining the need for a comprehensive maritime security strategy. The paper is focused upon joint operations with considerable emphasis placed upon coordination of all aspects of government to deliver national security and identifies the need for a significant upgrade […]
Australia's new Defence White Paper was issued at the beginning of May - and the RAN was the big winner. Press reports describe it as "the most dramatic build-up of naval power since World War II, predicated on the belief that the rise of China heralds significant long-term strategic risks […]
I was the communications officer on HMCS Protecteur when she was deployed to East Timor in 1999. While we did yeoman work supporting forces ashore with fuel, stores and an ‘RnR’ platform for allied troops, our many shortcomings were painfully obvious. We could not communicate with our own troops ashore, […]