Submarine bloviating off the starboard bow

The head of the Defence Force (a RAF guy) has stated that there is no national security "imperative" driving the demand that Australia build the replacement for the Collins submarine at home, reports the ABC.

He goes on to state further that the only imperative for doing this is an "emotive" one.

The ADF boss also goes on that two-thirds of the total cost of a submarine will be to sustain it at home (as an economic bone to throw).

He is a flag rank by the way. One of 170-plus in the Defence Force (a very small Defence Force) and he has a variety of comfort-castle perks. He doesn't have to really work for a living unlike a variety of people that pay his way via their tax dollars.

So, take that opinion of his in that context.

The Abbott government has made a royal mess of the Collins submarine effort.

Kind of like this...actually I didn't know the previous Defence Minister that got fired was really this funny when he was explaining why one couldn't trust the ASC to build subs.

Team Abbott promised 12 built at home on the campaign trail. Now that they are in office, it could be 8 from...anywhere.

The ADF boss continues with platitude.

"From my point of view, I want to manage the risks and I want to make sure that I get the capability that we need as a Defence Force to be able to look to the future," he said.

"We're talking 30 to 40 years out here."

He said it was important that the project was not held up because otherwise the country faced the threat to its capacity to defend itself.

"And that's what I keep an eye on," Air Chief Marshal Binskin said.

"For me as the overall commander of the Australian Defence Force, I want to make sure that we are looking at a capability that will meet the timeframe, meet the capability requirements, because I always worry about the risks and the overall capability of the product that's delivered in the end."

The Entrenched Defence Bureaucracy record on "managing risk" has been consistently bad.

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