Interesting comments on the problematic Air Warfare Destroyer project.
As a result we are now embarked upon the second saga in this sorry tale. We are building three orphan destroyers unique to Australia. As an alternative, we could have purchased three US-built Arleigh Burke class destroyers – considerably more capable ships – plus 100 fully equipped regional hospitals for the same total project cost.
The media reports that the first ship is way over budget and three years late. This augurs badly for the future of these ships – if construction delays resulted from unmanageable complexity the lifetime logistic support will be a nightmare.
As Australian orphans we will have to provide a costly inventory of lifetime spares – rather than tap into the US stockpile if we had purchased the Arleigh Burkes.
I disagree with him on the submarines, and the ANZAC frigates did show we can build warships here. But, the totality of the Air Warfare Destroyer mess, doesn't help our nations warship building reputation, at all.
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Australian Defence Reading List
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