An Inadequate Navy? A Common Affliction.

down downunder

Does this ring a bell, my Anglospheric navalists?

…our navy remains unfit to deliver the maritime defence strategy the government proposes.

It is older, has less firepower, is less reliable and has fewer ships available than a generation ago.

…

Bad policy derived from management fads unsuited to military governance led to flawed strategic and capability decisions. They were made late and acquired inadequate ships offering poor value for money through projects managed by people without necessary expertise.

…the defence force and its acquisition processes are not appropriate for their purpose.

The US Navy suffering a hangover from the Age of Transformationalism and imperial police actions in Central and Southwest Asia?

No.

The Royal Navy (yes, there is only one Royal Navy) picking its belly button wondering if it is mal-investing what few shillings it managed to find under the couch?

No.

If it isn’t the UK or US, then it must be … the AU in AUKUS then?

Correct.

Read the full article by RADM Rowan Moffitt, RAN (Ret.) to see the significant challenges one of our most important allies in the Pacific is struggling with.

No Pacific nation - or their allies - has the luxury of another generation or two of systemic underperformance. We all need to bring our A-game.

We need to recognize what brought prior failure - call it out in the open for all to see - and as such help prevent the same mistakes from happening again.

There is a Great Pacific War brewing west of the International Date Line. If we start acting like it, it may never come.

Continue to fail at our mission, and come it surely will - and we will lose.