Yesterday, Security & Defence PLuS Executive Director Dr Ian Langford published an op-ed in The Australian, following the release of the Australian government’s surface fleet review.
“While the promises of what the report will deliver are positive – and the move towards robotics and automation in the navy’s surface fleet should be commended – for the Australian Defence Force the problem of “speed to capability” remains.”
“Asymmetry is key in this regard and comes in the form of land-based anti-ship missiles combined with the massing of low-cost maritime drones.
Both of these low-cost technologies represent the kind of asymmetric maritime strike capability that could alleviate the short-term speed to capability challenges faced by the ADF and could eventually help close the missile gap between now and the early 2030s.”