Feb-Mar-Apr, May-June-July 1972 - Navy League of Australia

AUSTRALIA'S
DEFENCE
OUTLOOK
more to the Navy and the longranging
aircraft of the RAAF than
hitherto. Surveillance of our region
IN OUR OWN RIGHT will be
increasingly important — much as
we will have to depend on our,allies
for comprehensive intelligence
The existence of our own military
deterrents will also be most
important, and the Fill's and our
submarines will have important
roles here Our internal capacity to
supply and maintain our forces will
be vital for an island which can be
readily blockaded by nuclear
submarines
In naval terms I believe we must
place a very high priority indeed on
our ship-building capacity We must
remember that to keep a minimal
force of destroyers available, we
should be adding, on the average, at
least one ship of this type to the fleet
every eighteen months. Destroyers,
submarines and patrol-craft, backed
up by adequate auxiliaries, are a
MUST on any view of defence
requirements
One other important naval item
yet remains, and I refer to Naval
Airpower. A major study is being
carried out to answer the questions
here and I cannot prejudge the
result. Accepting the strategic role of
the Fill, however, there still seems to
be an essential requirement for both
naval anti-submarine and strike
aircraft in the strategic situations I
have outlined above. H.M.A.S.
Melbourne will be too old by the end
of this decade, and. subject to what
the study reveals to us. it would
appear that, for at least the
remainder of the twentieth century,
we will require some alternate form
of seaborne aircraft platform. One
possible ship currently in view is the
"through-deck" cruiser of the Royal
Navy This will be a self-contained
light cruiser with her deck
unobstructed for operating
helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft of
the STOL variety. The U.S. Navy's
"Sea-control ship" is a similar
concept. Such ships would, however,
cost a lot of money — much more
than the DDL that we have been
planning recently.
For obvious reasons my discussion
has mainly centred on the Navy and
Page Fifty-lour
H.M.A.S. Melbourne AacsMp *
maritime activity by the RAAF I
would not like it thought that l am
unmindful of other essential
developments, especially with regard
to major equipments in the Army
and Airforce.
A NUCLEAR DETERRENT?
Before leaving the question of
maior weaponry, however, it would
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end of this decade.
be well to mention the nuclear
deterrent It is my expectation that
many military skills of the superpowers
in the next twenty years will
be directed towards two major
objectives —
(i) The effective counter to or
nullification of any attack by nuclear
armed missiles or aircraft, and
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THE NAVY Febniary/ltarctyAprll, 1972
AUSTRALIA S DEFENCE
(ii) The possible destruction of a
potential enemy's nuclear capability
on a first strike basis
For us independently to possess a
nuclear weapon, and even a vehicle
to deliver it. could possibly be a step
backwards for Australian defence,
unless we also were in the forefront
of these two fields of research In a
war situation a nuclear armed
enemy would be obliged to use this
capacity to destroy our necessarily
meagre nuclear resources — and at
the same time he would be
increasingly immune to any attack
we might wish to press upon him.
Once again the sheer cost of
maintaining any respectable
proficiency in this field would be
utterly enormous. The Government
at present has no such pretensions
THE QUESTION OF COST:
This brings me to the vital question
of overall military expenditure. I
have said that our national defence
depends ultimately on political
decisions. We must see to it that we
are significant to our friends as well
as dangerous to our enemies It
would be utter nonsense for us to
OUTLOOK
dream of developing resources that
would enable us to have a
formidable fighting force but a
disgruntled population and a
beggared economy. It would be
futile, for example, for us alone to
dream of developing adequate
resources to try to counter Soviet
naval power in the Indian Ocean. Let
me give an example — Even if we
wished to make such a purchase,
one single nuclear attack submarine
would probably cost in the vicinity of
$250-millions. Russia is currently
producing one every month and is
reputed to be able even now to
produce at least one of these boats
every fortnight! Let's face it. we just
aren't in that league — and we never
will be. for any practical planning
purposes — so our role must be
quite different. That is why the Prime
Minister, during his recent visit to
Washington and London, placed so
much emphasis on the
encouragement of an allied naval
presence in the Indian Ocean. This is
elementary commonsense.
The best we alone can hope to do.
from the viewpoint of the R.A.N..
regarding the Russian naval
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presence, is to keep as fully
informed as possible, to show the
flag where we can. and to indicate a
capacity to fight for our interests
with equipment which, ship for ship,
should be at least the equal of any
non-nuclear vessel in the world. In
short we should be able to make it as
painful as possible for even a superpower
to try to bully us. and at the
same time we should have the
capacity to defeat aggression from
such lesser sources as I have already
mentioned.
IN CONCLUSION:
Finally and by way of summary of
the core of my thesis: the
Government is determined to see
this nation equipped with the most
modern and powerful military
capability that Australia can afford
— continually balancing the degree
of threat with other prime national
requirements — political,
diplomatic, economic and industrial
— many of them equally significant
in our ultimate defence. We will at ail
times plan and build so that we will
have both the capacity and the allies
to resist and defeat aggression. Only
when we are bending every nerve to
these tasks can we afford the luxury
of hopeful thinking about tne good
intentions of other people.
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