Capability: present paying for future
By Marc Ablong, Mike Hughes and Linus Cohen*
Australia’s 2026–27 budget commits the federal government to daily spending around A$181.9 million on defence. That headline sits on...
Hybrid RN. What could go wrong?
By Tom Sharpe*
Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the First Sea Lord used the inaugural Fisher Lecture on Wednesday to spell out his vision for a...
UK and Norway go after subs
HMS Prince of Wales is carrying helicopters set to play a key role as NATO forces conduct submarine detection training in the Norwegian Sea...
Iran’s new mini-submarine
By Tom Sharpe*
The Strait of Hormuz remains in a state of near lockdown. Many things worry merchant captains thinking of running the gauntlet there:...
Russian nuclear exercise in Arctic
The three-day joint Russian-Belarusian nuclear weapons exercise has concluded (May 2026) with ballistic missile exchanges between the Barents Arctic region and the Russian Far...
More expensive warships challenged
In the Keynote speech for the 2026 Combined Naval Event at Farnborough, First Sea Lord General Gwyn Jenkins delivered his sharpest challenge yet to...
A great wall of underwater sensors
China is building a network of undersea sensors in the Pacific Ocean to detect the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarines and secure its sea-based nuclear...
A fallback for risky Collins LOTE
By Richard Gray*
The reduced Collins-class submarine Life-of-Type Extension (LOTE) program, announced on 19 May, will cost more than previously expected and deliver less capability....
China using all levers to keep Darwin Port
By Geoff Wade and Justin Bassi*
Litigation by the Chinese lessee of Darwin Port is an attempt at stymying the Australian government’s stated aim of returning...
ANAO report on Collins Class Life of Type Extension
On 22 May 2026 the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) released its report Defence’s Collins Class Submarines Life of Type Extension — Planning and...