AUSTRALIA will buy a growing
proportion of its military equipment ready-made from overseas as a way
of ensuring that multi-billion dollar purchases are delivered on time
and on budget, according to Defence secretary Ian Watt.
Collins class Drawing
Dr
Watt said recent success stories such as the trouble-free purchase of
C-17 heavy airlifter aircraft and Abrams tanks from the US had
convinced Defence that so-called off-the-shelf military purchases from
overseas were a viable, cost-effective way of funding future Defence
capability.
"I think there is a greater appreciation of the
benefits of off-the-shelf (purchases)," he told The Weekend Australian
in his first interview since becoming Defence secretary on August 31.
"We didn't have off-the-shelf success stories (in the past) but now we do,' he said.
Dr
Watt's comments confirm a steady sea-change in Defence thinking away
from Australian-based programs such as the failed modifications to the
navy's Seasprite helicopters which forced the government to write off
the entire $1.2 billion project.
However,
greater emphasis on overseas purchases is likely to alarm the nation's
$5bn defence industry which is hoping to reap lucrative contracts from
the $100bn-plus defence equipment program outlined in this year's
Defence white paper.
"There is a concern (in the defence
industry) to the extent that you don't want a mindset in the defence
bureaucracy that automatically buys off the shelf," said John
O'Callaghan, executive officer of the peak defence industry body, the
Australian Industry Group Defence Council.
"You want careful analysis of the reasons for buying off the shelf and the costs and benefits of doing so."
Dr
Watt said the decision to buy off-the-shelf military equipment would be
made on a case-by-case basis, but he would like to see the balance tilt
towards buying ready-made equipment from overseas. "The issue we have
as an organisation is, yes, to make more use of off the shelf, but some
things you can get off the shelf and some things you can't.'
Defence
has traditionally found itself facing the greatest blowout in costs
when it invests in development defence projects, such as the F-111
strike bomber in the 1960s, the Collins Class submarine project in the
1980s, and the current Joint Strike Fighter project and Wedgetail early
warning aircraft projects which are both late and over budget.
Although
the government has said it will construct the next generation of
submarines in Australia, it is unclear how much Australian input there
will be to the design, weaponry, communication and combat systems of
the new boats.
Collins launch
The decision to build the Collins Class submarines
from scratch resulted in a sub-standard combat system, unreliable main
engines, noisy machinery, cracked propeller blades, poor communications
and a problem-plagued periscope.
Dr Watt said the $2bn C-17
purchase and the $500 million Abrams tanks order, which were both
delivered on time and on budget, had convinced Defence it could buy off
the shelf successfully.
"Replicate these and the balance shifts," he said. "(The debate) becomes, `why wouldn't you buy off the shelf?" (Original News)
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