By Greg Mapson*
Now that the cacophony surrounding Australia’s submarine decision and the AUKUS announcement has quietened somewhat, it’s timely to mention a much smaller but nonetheless important milestone in building the Royal Australian Navy’s lethality—the pending acquisition of a sea-mine capability.
Greg Sheridan of The Australian has recently, and quite rightly, written extensively about the need for the Australian Defence Force to embrace a range of asymmetric weapon types to add some spine to Australia’s quest for greater self-reliance as well as increased lethality. So, it was timely that just two weeks ago the Defence Department released a request for information from industry relating to the near-term acquisition of modern sea mines. Project SEA 2000—Maritime Mining, is up and running, and not before time.
