AUKUS Forum

Establishing New Industries with #AUKUS AUKUS Forum Chief Executive Michael Sharpe shares the latest insights. 🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸 Missile Manufacturing Industry: Australia currently lacks a domestic missile manufacturing industry, but the strategic imperative to develop this capability is clear. A key recommendation of the Defence Strategic Review is to accelerate and expand weapons systems, including land-based maritime strike and long-range missile capabilities. This expansion will be complemented by investments to replenish weapons and explosive ordnance stocks and establish in-country missile and munition manufacturing facilities. In the next two decades, Defence projects an investment of around AUD $100 billion in guided weapons. This substantial investment underscores the importance of developing a robust domestic missile manufacturing capability. Given the challenges in global supply chains and the shifting geopolitical landscape, enhancing domestic production of guided weapons is crucial for ensuring national security and strategic autonomy. See https://lnkd.in/gBHhvDAZ

As we criss-cross the nation, the #AUKUS National Workshop Series moved to regional Queensland this week with factory site visits across the region. AUKUS Forum CEO, Michael Sharpe was joined by BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL Mayor, Nev Ferrier and Federal Member of Parliament, Colin Boyce MP 🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸 We visited a diverse range of industry and connected great research minds to local industry leaders including Callide Manufacturing Company with Samuel Jesuadian, COO of the ARM Hub (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Many thanks to Abhiney Arora, Executive Director of the Industry Capability Network for sharing his latest insights, along with Judd McCann, Program Director at Akana Ittatoba Pty Limited talking about First Nations Trade and much more. It’s always good to catch up with Mick Elliott from the Gladstone Manufacturing Hub and we also heard from Amy McDonnell and Tony Birch from Goal Group to discuss management systems and more as part of our AUKUS Connect Program. See https://lnkd.in/g2CAX_bE Learn more about the activities at the AUKUS Forum and get involved here https://lnkd.in/gKd__hnS Queensland Commissioner for Resources Safety & Health, Queensland Manufacturing Institute (QMI), Manufacturing Skills Queensland, Manufacturing Queensland, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Defence Australia 🇦🇺

The stunning spy allegations against two Russian-born Australians read like a plot of a TV thriller and represent the dawn of a new era for the nation’s intelligence agencies. The prospect that Russia may have planted sleeper agents to live among us – an idea popularised by the hit TV show The Americans – will shock everyday Australians. The bringing of charges over the alleged espionage plot in suburban Brisbane is a credit to ASIO and the Australian Federal Police. It marks the first-ever use of new espionage laws introduced five years ago, and comes amid surging efforts by foreign spies to gain access to classified information. But many questions remain unanswered. Chief among them – did Kira and Igor Korolev move to Australia a decade ago as part of a long-term Russian plan to spy on Australia? Or will it be alleged they were turned by a Russian agent after they arrived? Police are yet to say. But ASIO director-general Mike Burgess hinted the plot may have been years in the making, saying foreign intelligence services “play the long game”. It remains to be seen whether any sensitive material was actually handed to the Russians, although Burgess suggested the authorities had been “able to control this”. Australians will also rightly ask, if Kira Korolev is a spy, how did she manage to get through the Australian Defence Force’s security vetting processes to take up a job as an information systems technician? https://lnkd.in/ga9WSz5m

Almost a year after clinching a multi-billion-dollar contract to build Australian Army vehicles, South Korea is again promoting closer defence ties as it seeks to win another lucrative prize; to deliver Navy's new fleet of "general-purpose frigates". Visiting South Korean Vice-Defence Minister Kim Seon-ho will hold talks with officials in Canberra today to discuss possible future cooperation on AUKUS Pillar 2 projects, while also pushing for more joint military exercises and cyber cooperation. "I believe we could increase our participation within the land forces exercises, and the second part is I believe we need to increase our exercises within the cyber domain," Mr Kim told the ABC during his only interview in Australia. "[South] Korea's actually conducting, currently conducting lots of cyber exercises with the United States, NATO and EU countries and if it's possible I think we could conduct bilateral exercises [between] Korea and Australia and also multilateral exercises." This week South Korea for the first time supported an Australian-led push to accuse Beijing of conducting large-scale cyber espionage targeting government and business networks, and was joined by Japan, Germany and Five Eyes intelligence partners. https://lnkd.in/g34c3BUT

A four-nation grouping of Indo-Pacific democracies - Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea - would now be launched as a new, standalone diplomatic entity and partner for the US. The leaders of this group, the so-called Indo-Pacific Four or IP4, have been invited to join NATO summits in recent years, acknowledging that they share some of the same concerns as the NATO allies. Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles plus the leaders of the other three IP4 countries are in Washington this week for NATO’s 75th anniversary summit. Campbell said that the group of four had developed into a new entity. “What you’ll see is a clear set of guidelines and initiatives designed to embed the IP4 into this nascent architecture that is emerging in the Indo-Pacific,” Campbell said. “We fully expect the IP4 to join AUKUS and the Quad as fundamental features of the diplomatic and military architecture and dialogue of the Pacific.” https://lnkd.in/gEXtNfPg

Australia, the US and other allied nations must increase their defence budgets and military preparedness because of the “enormous peril” of the times we live in and China’s increased strategic co-operation with Russia, Iran and North Korea, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has warned. Dr Campbell delivered this striking assessment of Australia’s standing in the US: “There is no country held in as high regard as Australia. In recent years, Australia has been elevated to the absolute summit. Because of the Indo-Pacific, that is only going to grow over time. “We’ve just now, with the help of Australia, had the biggest uptick in investment in our submarine program since the Rickover navy (Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the US nuclear navy, retired in 1982). We now better understand, through AUKUS, that we need to polish what is the jewel in our defence industrial effort, which is our (nuclear) submarine program.” The other striking challenge he nominated for the future of the alliance was the need to sell the alliance to young people who did not automatically understand the defining experiences of World War II and the period immediately after. https://lnkd.in/g34WUJB4

South Korea is a key ally of the United States, with longstanding military and economic ties. The US-South Korea alliance, formalized through the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty, has been a cornerstone of regional security for decades. Incorporating South Korea into AUKUS would enhance interoperability and coordination among these allies, creating a more cohesive and formidable defense posture in the region. It would also reaffirm America’s commitment to the security of its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, sending a strong message of solidarity and resolve. Countering North Korean Threats Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs pose a significant threat to regional stability. The regime’s continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, along with its unpredictable behavior, has heightened tensions and insecurity. The recent summit between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un highlights the potential for increased military and technological cooperation between North Korea and Russia, raising concerns among Western allies. By including Seoul in #AUKUS, the alliance could integrate South Korea’s advanced military capabilities and intelligence assets, providing a more robust deterrent against North Korean provocations. See https://lnkd.in/gQv5rypU

As we criss-cross the nation, the #AUKUS National Workshop Series moved to regional Queensland this week with factory site visits across the region. AUKUS Forum CEO, Michael Sharpe was joined by BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL Mayor, Nev Ferrier and Federal Member of Parliament, Colin Boyce MP 🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸 We visited a diverse range of industry and connected great research minds to local industry leaders including Callide Manufacturing Company with Samuel Jesuadian, COO of the ARM Hub (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Many thanks to Abhiney Arora, Executive Director of the Industry Capability Network for sharing his latest insights, along with Judd McCann, Program Director at Akana Ittatoba Pty Limited talking about First Nations Trade and much more. It’s always good to catch up with Mick Elliott from the Gladstone Manufacturing Hub and we also heard from Amy McDonnell and Tony Birch from Goal Group to discuss management systems and more as part of our AUKUS Connect Program. See https://lnkd.in/g2CAX_bE Learn more about the activities at the AUKUS Forum and get involved here https://lnkd.in/gKd__hnS Queensland Commissioner for Resources Safety & Health, Queensland Manufacturing Institute (QMI), Manufacturing Skills Queensland, Manufacturing Queensland, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Defence Australia 🇦🇺

#AUKUS opportunities 🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸

The US Navy has announced that it is set to deploy a torpedo-tube launch-and-recovery (TTL&R) uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) capability onboard an operational submarine for the first time. Vice Admiral Rob Gaucher, the US Navy’s Commander Submarine Forces said “We’re going to install UUVs on a submarine, USS Delaware, starting in a couple of weeks, and they will deploy by the end of the year,” “We’re already looking at who’s going to be next to start installing, so that we continuously have a submarine-operated vehicle,” Vice Adm Gaucher added. Delaware is a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). Commissioned in April 2020, the Block III Virginia boat is the 18th of a planned force level of 66 Virginia hulls. Vice Adm Gaucher explained that delivering a fully integrated SSN-based UUV capability is a key development priority, as part of building the USN submarine force’s future operational posture. “From my perspective, we are not operating UUVs enough in the submarine force,” he added. https://lnkd.in/eyS4Z_fr