Missiles loaded onto defence wishlist, hard cuts marked

Dominic Giannini | April 22, 2023

A wide-ranging review of Australia’s defence force has recommended some projects immediately be delayed and stripped back to address overspend. 

The Defence Strategic Review recommends a land combat vehicle program that would have produced up to 450 infantry fighting vehicles be cut back to 129 to provide a single mechanised battalion.

It also recommends programs for medium and heavy landing craft, long-range missiles and mobile land-based missiles used to strike maritime targets be accelerated and expanded. 

But it says a second regiment of self-propelled howitzer artillery should be cancelled. 

The review was foreshadowed by a change in defence posture to focus more on long-range strike capabilities and being able to combat and deter adversaries further from Australia’s shores.

It was conducted independently by former defence force chief Angus Houston and former defence minister Stephen Smith and doesn’t reflect government policy. 

An unclassified version of the review will be released on Monday, but some of the more than 100 recommendations will remain classified. 

One chapter specifically addresses funding issues and budget constraints, outlining that programs outstripped capacity by 24 per cent over the forward estimates. 

It says new capability requirements coupled with demand for existing programs, as well as workforce pressures, means difficult decisions will need to be made. 

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said Australia was facing difficult decades ahead, and the defence force was not ready for the challenges involved.

The government believed it could meet those challenges, but that wouldn’t happen if Australia continued on the trajectory of waste and neglect seen in previous years, she said.

“The review that will be released on Monday will outline what we need to be able to do to protect our country in the years ahead and how our government will get us there,” Ms O’Neil told the ABC on Saturday.

She rejected the suggestion the reshuffle would weaken the army, saying the intention was to ensure the defence force was fit for purpose for the years ahead.

“This is an incredibly important thing that our government is doing for the country,” Ms O’Neil said.

Between the 2020 defence strategic update and the start of the review in August 2022, there were $42 billion worth of defence announcements over the decade to 2032/33 with no additional provisions in the budget. 

The defence budget also had to contend with a $15 billion reduction in allocated spending over the same decade due to reallocations and efficiency dividends, according to the review.