Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

After some time in South Korea and then China it's time to focus on international and domestic events, leaving the 7th World Media Day in Beijing for a separate podcast in the near future. The US Congressional midterm elections saw numerous heavy losses for the Republicans, for which Donald Trump can be blamed. Of course he won't accept that and already firings have started. The implications for defence and AUKUS are unknown, though some vanity projects such as the Trump class battleships might get the chop.In Australia, the Garrett-Barrie report into AUKUS has been released and it calls the undertaking a disaster that needs to be scrapped. A Royal Commission is needed to understand how we got into this mess in the first place - which sounds like a good idea to APDR. Of course the government has instantly dismissed the criticism - as they instantly dismiss anything that does not suit their preferred narrative. They didn't even bother putting in a submission, in the certain knowledge that if they did it would merely expose how weak the case for acquiring nuclear-powered submarines actually is. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The scale of the corrupt deal between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is even greater than we thought with Europe coming under pressure to transfer $200 billion worth of frozen Russian assets to Washington, to be administered by we don't know who. On a bright note it looks like Starlink / Starshield services have been fully restored, but the point remains that the US can - and will - pull the plug on customers and allies, no matter who they are.Ukraine continues to demonstrate that drones are the way of the future, and Russian casualties for September reached an all time high - 50,000 killed, wounded and missing. Ukraine is launching an average of 6,600 drone strikes per day - and that number will certainly increase as they build and buy even more of them.The Starlink debacle is evidence of the importance of military communications satellites - and Australia needs a network of our own. Recent information is that an offer from the government of South Korea to Australia to co-develop a military communications satellite system was completely ignored - something that in other times would have led to Ministers being fired. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australian politicians and Defence planners - please note that the US betrayal of Ukraine is worsening. On top of an illegal decision to purchase Russian diesel fuel, other sanctions have been lifted and the absolutely vital Star Shield military grade internet service to Ukraine was curtailed. During that time, launches of Russian ballistic missiles went undetected, resulting in civilian deaths - and the outrage in the US has been so strong that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are now blaming each other.As well as proving its treachery by openly siding with the Kremlin, the utterly corrupt Trump administration may do permanent damage to the quality of US military equipment - and all Australian politicians and bureaucrats need to be aware of this new reality. If contracts are being awarded as a result of bribes and family connections, how can other countries be sure that it is fit for purpose? This is not a joke - contracts are now openly being awarded to companies in which the Trump family has shares.Finally our Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters are being retired. Ukraine is no longer interested in them because they have discovered that numerous cheap drones can perform almost all of the missions of vastly expensive crewed platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start with the latest ongoing US betrayal of Ukraine - and it's a shocker. Following a 90 minute phone call with his best friend Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has announced that the US will now buy diesel fuel from Russia. This is a total breach of western sanctions and not only stabs Ukraine in the back but also undercuts support for Ukraine. The consequences could be profound and demonstrate again that the Trump administration will break any alliance agreements whenever it suits them.A few words about the Land Forces conference in Perth last week and the huge amount of work companies are putting into drone technologies and also various countermeasures. Surely this is the future of combat operations but the ADF and Defence still seem to be adopting a business as usual approach rather than embracing the technological revolution that is clearly underway. Also there was an industry briefing for LAND 6504, the search for a medium range ground based air defence missile with the aim of selecting a winner at the end of next year.We conclude with some questions about military cultures and whether Australians like the idea of live streaming someone being executed by firing squad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start with some words about delayed flights in Australia and how this is a metaphor for obscure Defence decision-making, especially on subjects like AUKUS. Nuclear-powered submarines are great for travelling long distances at high speed underwater but there has never been any analysis of how this benefits Australia - particularly for the gigantic amounts of money involved. Then some more words about Ukraine and the use of AI-enabled uncrewed systems. Ukrainian forces have completed - or are just about to complete - a 4-phase offensive that has regained significant amounts of territory illegally occupied by Russia - and has continued to inflict around 1,500 casualties per day. The key enabler for this operation has been the use of uncrewed ground vehicles - a clear indication of how rapidly the nature of warfare is changing. Australia remains completely oblivious to what is going on, treating uncrewed technology as a curiosity rather than a fundamental game-changer. Even the US has woken up to this with comic book character Pete Hegseth announcing that an autonomous warfare command will be established. This is accompanied by a 120 day review into the entire future of warfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot has been happening on the international scene with Australia's PM Anthony Albanese at the United Nations in New York partly to lobby for one of the rotating seats on the Security Council. It's not clear how much support Australia will receive since we are in the process of converting ourselves into one giant US military base.Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and in addition appears to have abandoned his Middle Eastern allies, especially Saudi Arabia. On top of that, the western world seems to be melting down on the issue of whether or not Artificial Intelligence needs to be regulated. AI is already being used extensively by many militaries, including Australia. Various tests demonstrated a decade ago that AI-enabled platforms such as F-16s could defeat ones flown by humans, so why has the uptake been so slow? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We begin with another Defence procurement farce. Two years ago Defence abandoned a project called JP 9102 for geostationary military communications satellites with Minister Richard Marles explaining that they were too vulnerable and of insufficient capability. In an extraordinary development, Defence has just issued a tender for a satellite very similar to the one they cancelled. The problem is that we have missed at least 3 years acquiring a vital capability - and Australian industry lost more than $300 million because of the ineptitude of Defence.The Middle East continues to unravel with Donald Trump now seeking to blame Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure for high US diesel prices rather than his own stupid unprovoked war with Iran. At least Ukraine is hitting back with massive drone and ballistic missile attacks on Russia. This is demonstrating the future of warfare - mass attacks from these systems. Only now is the full extent of the damage Iran has caused to US facilities using similar weapons in the Persian Gulf region being revealed.It looks very much like Trump is abandoning US allies in the Middle East - especially Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and the Gulf monarchies believed that the US could be counted on as their security guarantor. The reality is that Trump is throwing them under the bus. Why do Australian politicians and Defence officials think we are any different? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a breaking story, there is very credible reporting that the UK has deferred placing an order for future attack submarines - SSN AUKUS - until 2028. This is directly contrary to what we are being told by our government, the RAN and Defence officials. We are in the process of donating $5 billion to the UK industrial base to build submarines that haven't even been ordered.The situation in the US is no different with the Government Accounting Office - their equivalent of the ANAO - reporting on 27 August that the SSN maintenance and disposal system is a huge mess, years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. Just like the situation in the UK, we are being lied to. We are being told that US SSN maintenance is improving when in fact it is getting worse.Speaking of getting worse - the situation in the Middle East risks spiralling completely out of control. The Houthis in Yemen now control the critical passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and are threatening Saudi shipping. After the US midterms in November - if they go ahead - President Trump will have a free hand and might decide to escalate the conflict, with unforeseeable consequences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the United States continues to isolate itself, the rest of the world is starting a process of realignment - with the exception of Australia, of course. More information is becoming available about how we are being turned into a giant US military base, without any public discussion. At the same time, several opinion polls are showing that even though the alliance with the US remains vital in the minds of a majority of Australians, the pattern is shifting decisively.For those under the age of 35 - the nation's future leaders - the trend is clear: increasing trust in China and decreasing confidence that the US would come to Australia's aid during a conflict. Is this shift reflected in government policy? Of course not, as we rush to further ingratiate ourselves with the flailing Trump administration. Meanwhile, China is also transforming but in an economic sense moving from a manufacturer to a creator and innovator - something APDR witnessed last week as a guest at the Asia Pacific Media Forum in Shenzhen.There could be some powerful lessons for Australia in how small, high technology, AI enabled systems can massively increase self reliance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The U.S. is continuing to demonstrate its unreliability as a security partner on an almost daily basis - something our politicians and Defence officials refuse to acknowledge is happening. Latest pieces of idiocy include Donald Trump's decision to try to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America as a deliberate and childish insult to Canada. More disturbingly, a Pentagon report has been leaked saying the US plans to recognise Argentina's claim over the Falkland Islands if the UK doesn't increase Defence spending to 5% of GDP - an outrageous piece of blackmail. In Australia, the Saturday by-election for the WA seat of Secret Harbour has seen the election of a One Nation candidate with a massive 18% swing against Labor. Normally, State by-elections aren't hugely consequential for Federal governments - but this one might have national security implications. Just five days before the vote the Federal government announced a massive $12 billion investment (out of a total of $25 billion) in the nearby Henderson maritime precinct. Rather than impress voters, this huge infrastructure spend might have had the opposite effect.Also, Defence Minister Richard Marles has left for yet another visit to the US and UK spruiking complete nonsense about the strength of the relationship with Washington. He is unable to see what everyone else can - and that is the US is unravelling further almost every day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.