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8/12/2019 AUSSIE FORCES

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F E AT U R E

Australias current defencepolicy comes from 1997sStrategic Policy, calling for

forward naval and air defence ofthe northward air-sea gap againstattacks before they reachAustralian terr itory. This meansmore pro-active operations withthe US, and NZ, and other regionalcountries what the media calledthe Howard Doctrine. Trevor J.Thomas, editor of the A u s t r a l i a nDefence Business R e v ie w ( A DB R ) ,sees it as a tougher line inAustralia n foreign aff airs anddefence policy towards non-demo-cratic regional nations.

This is partly driven by the US reluc-tance to commit troops to Pacific inter-

ventions, other than in support roles, as

evidenced by the recent Australian led

INTERFET operation which saw theAustralian Defence Force (ADF) deploy

up to 6,500 personnel in East Timor and

the continuing substantial contribution

over 2000-01 of 1,550 troops to the UN ledUNTAET force. ADF personnel serve the

Bougainville peacekeeping force, and

other peace and security operations,

and in Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.As with NZ, the FPDA has led to joint

exercises where Singapore deploys large

formations on the continent and con-

structed a A$20m training facility for upto 12 deployed Puma helicopters at Army

aviation centre Oakey. It allows historical

ties with the UK to be maintained

through co-operation on projects suchas the Barra passive sonobuoy (in ADF

service) and the hull mounted Sonar

31VANGUARD Issue 4, 2000

Basic Facts: A U S T R A L I A

Total Area 7,692,024 sq km.

Island nation continent includ-ing Tasmania and smalladjoining islands, slightlysmaller than US, lies betweenIndian and South PacificOceans, coast line of over25,000 km. Also: Christmas,Cocos, Lord Howe, McDonald,Macquarie and NorfolkIslands.

Government Parliamentary democracy.

Capital Canberra.

Terrain Low plateau with deserts,fertile plain in Southeast(where population is con-centrated), tropical in northand mainly arid in Northwest.

Population 19 million (2000 est.)

Ethnic Gr oups 92% Caucasian, 7% Asian,1% Aboriginal and other.

Religion 26.1% Anglican, 26% RomanCatholic, 24.3 other Christian,11% non-Christian.

Languages English (official), Aboriginal.

AUSSIE FORCESSTATUS REPORT

2093 (in both RN and RAN service).

Military to military joint training and

exercises, intelligence sharing, per-

sonnel exchanges, and more interac-

tion on defence acquisition benefitboth nations, notes Parliamentary

Secretary to the Defence Minister,

Senator Eric Abetz.To do this, Australia maintains

sufficient standing forces to support

such interventions, as well as having

on-tap required forces. Unfortunately,though, Defence Secretary, Dr Allan

Hawke, has advised that the total

bill through to 2020 (for capital

expenditures) exceeds guidance fornew investment (up to A$106 billion)

by 20-40%.Thus, the 2007 to 2015, period

will require replacement of somemajor assets, like the armys wheeled

vehicle fleet, C-130Hs, F/A-18s and

P-3Cs. Others, such as armoured

vehicles and helicopters, will needLife Of Type Extensions (LOTE) to

remain in service to 2020.

A Public Discussion Paper for

the new Defence Policy Statement,due out late this year, is looking at

the future role, capability and struc-

ture of the ADF possibly includinga reduced force with the capabilityfor high-intensity conflict or

enhanced peacekeeping capabilities,

the direction NZ seems to be pro-

ceeding in. It also seeks to identifywhether the public would support

increased funding, to maintain or

increase capabili ties, or if c u r r e n tlevels are maintained identifying

capabilities to be reduced or elimi-

nated.


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Royal Australian Navy

The RAN is at the forefront of the cur-rent defence strategy of a two-ocean

navy with half of combat assets

deployed to the recently developed

Fleet Base West in Western Australia,significantly closer to their expected

operating area. The projected force

level of 14 upgraded major surface com-

batants six Adelaides (FFG-7) andeight ANZACs. This substantial fleet of

can operate under land-based aircover

or without it, especially in task groups.

Both the FFG-7 and ANZAC frigatesare to undergo an Anti-Ship Missile

Defence (ASMD) upgrade, involving the

installation of quad-packed ESSM(cocoon launchers in the FFG-7s, from

build in the last three ANZACs), Link 16,

Petrel mine and obstacle avoidance

sonars (ANZACs as per ESSM), indige-

nous KARWARRA Low-FrequencyActive/Passive towed Array Sonars,

indigenous Nulka hovering rocket decoy

system, plus a torpedo defence system.

Additionally, the FFG-7s are having theirSonar, Combat, Radar and EW systems

upgraded while the ANZACs will be

equipped with Harpoons (as per ESSM).

The scaling back of the ANZACWarfighting Improvement Programme

(WIP) to just the ASMD, WIP would have

fitted Standard SM-2 Blk IIIA missiles to

provide an Area Anti-air Warfare (AAW)

capability and Co-operative EngagementCapability (CEC) which allows radar

pictures from different platforms to be

used interchangeably, declining the fourex-US Kidd-class destroyers and the

pending retirement of the remaining

DDG in 2001, may risk leaving the RANwithout a modern AAW capability.

Realistically, the earliest that locally

constructed new-build vessels could

enter service is around 2008.Funding is required to replace the

Collins tactical data handling system

and rectify known structural problems,including reserve buoyancy, plus vari-

ous platform systems in the remainingfour boats. Once deficiencies have beenremedied by end of 2006 the Collins-

class can be extremely potent assetcabable of periodic upgrades, for

decades. However, Capt. Richard SharpRN comments it is not encouraging thatthe Navy is far short of the trained num-

bers needed to man its six submarines.

With half of the Huon-class (Gaeta-

class modified for local operating condi-

tions mainly characterised by highseawater temperatures), equipped with

two Double Eagle II mine disposal vehi-

cles, now in the service, the RAN is nearthe end of an ambitious programme to


DEFENCE BUDGET 2000-01est.A$11,458 million appropriated

C u r rent Force Levels:all personnel as of 17 Feb, 2000

N a v y: 12,807 personnel(plus1,075 Reserves; 3,500 Standby Reserves)

10+4 Destroyers and Frigates4+2 Submarines (1 Oberon till 2001, 3+3 Collins)

2 Replenishment ships5+3 Minehunters (3+3 Coastal Huon, 2 Inshore)

5 Auxiliary Minesweepers2 Mine Clearance Diving Teams4 Amphibious ships (2 LPA, 1 LSL, 1 Catamaran)

15 Patrol Boats (Freemantle)25 Landing Craft (6 LCH, 4 LCVP, 15 LCM8Army)

16+11 Light Maritime Helicopters(S-70B-2 Seahawk + SH-2G(A) Seasprite)

7 Medium Utility Helicopters (Seaking HAS 50/50A)

A rm y 24,290 personnel(plus 18,623 General Reserve [GRes])

90 Main Battle Tanks (Leopard 1A3 incl. 30 in store)629 Tracked APC (M-113 incl. 47 Recce and119 in store)111 ASLAV (plus 14 ex-USMC in store)

0+341 Bushmaster IMV (incl. 18 RAAF)145 Towed Artillery (incl. 109 Hamel 105mm)37 SAM (18 Rapier, 19 RBS-70

12 of each operational)6 Support Helicopters (CH47D Chinook)

61/43 Light Transport Helicopters(Black Hawk; UH-1H, incl.Fire Support)

43/8 Armed Recce/Fire Support Helicopters(Kiowa /UH-1H)

Major Field & Unit FormationsARA Ready Reserve (RR) GRes

1 DJFHQ & Division HQ 2ND2 _ Bdes 6 _1/3 Armoured Regt 2/32 Aviation Regt

1+1 Cavalry Recce/APC Regt + Sqn 4+32 Mechanised & Motorised Inf Regt 22 Infantry Regt/Bn 17

1+1 CDO + Parachute 1+01 SAS Regt RFSU 3

2+1 Artillery Regt + Battery 5+42 Engineer Regt 4

1+1Air Defence Regt + Battery (integrated with RR)

1Divisional Locating Battery (integrated with RR)

Air Force: 13,953 personnel(plus 2,206 Reserves)

71 Fighters (F/A-18 Hornet)7+26 Lead in Fighter Trainers (Hawk Mk127)

35 Strike Fighters (21 RF/F-111C, 14 F-111G)0+7 AEW&C (B737-700 improved)4/1 Tanker/Transport (B707)38 Transports (24 Hercules, 14 DHC-4)

19/3 Maritime Patrol/Training (AP-3C/-3B Orion)

Indian

Ocean

Cora

Sea

Timor

Sea

Tasma

Sea

Alice Springs

Cairnes

RAAF SchergerRAAFTindal

Townsville

BriOakley

RAAF Amberley

SydneCanberra

RAAF GlenbrookRAAF RichmondRAAF Williamtown

Queenstown

Melbourne

Adelaide

RAAFEdinburgh

Darwin

Timor

Rockingham/FreemantleAir BaseRAAF Pearce

Perth

Operation Lavarack HMAS Tobruk, off the coast of Suai, offloads vehicles via

the rear door and supplies by SeaKing helicopter sorties through into the night.

HMAS Tobruk played an integral role in setting up the WESTFOR command,

interfets southern headquarters, in charge of protecting the border regencies.


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re-establish mine warfare capabilities as

the last will commission in Sept 2000.Besides Minehunters, RAN has five

auxiliary minesweepers (three also

equipped with minesweeping drones)

equippedwith the indigenous AMASSsystem (with the Huons AMASS capa-

ble), with additional sets in store for

chartered vessels in an emergency. It also

boasts the worlds first fully integratedmine warfare systems center. Addi-

tionally, Australias DSTO has virtual

combat system environments set up for

the ANZACs, Collins and Huons tofacilitate research into new capabilities.

The RANs vastly increased

amphibious capability allows lift of a

full Bn Group and integral helicoptersupport once the second LPA enters

service end-2000, thus providing on-

tap amphibious assets required to sup-

port the Howard Doctrine. Additionaltransport capability comes through the

charter of a high speed catamaran,

based in Darwin on the north coast,

which has already seen extensive use

with the East Timor commitment.Unfortunately, the much delayed LPA

program is some A$168m over budget,

most of which had to be found withinexisting naval repair and refit budgets,

and maintaining the LSL until 2010 has

required expensive refit and running

repairs, thus further impacting on fleetmaintenance and overall readiness.

HMAS Westralia, one of two

Replenishment Ships (RS), needs

replacement about 2008 to comply with

international environmental agree-ments. With the catamarans lease

expiring in 2001, both RS, LSL, plus the

two LPAs requiring replacement by

2015, the RAN is studying the conceptof a Multi-Role Auxiliary (MRA), similar

to the ALSC project being studied by

Canada. The MRA ships combine the RS

role with that of amphibious transportwith considerable helicopter support

capabilities, and can act as a support

platform for land forces, while the ALSC

has more of a dedicated RS and Ro-RoSealift capability through the use of

modular payloads.

Operational support for RAN ships

is currently provided by the upgradedSeahawks, which are deployable on

most major surface ships, as are the

Seasprites (remanufactured from ex-US

Navy SH-2F ) primarily intended for theANZACs and will enter service from

2001, with both types all weather capa-

ble. Seasprites, which unlike the

Seahawks do not carry sonobuoys or

magnetic anomaly detectors thusreflecting the RANs emphasis on sur-

face warfare, will also see concurrent

introduction of the Penguin Mk2Mod7anti-ship missile (ASM). An additional

seven SH-2F were acquired and stored

for possible future upgrade. The

Seakings, LOTE till 2008, provide a use-ful utility capability. Dedicated land

based support is provided by the

RAAFs P-3C/Update II Orions which are

equipped with Harpoon for surface war-

fare, as are the F-111s and F/A-18s. The

lightweight Mk46Mod5A torpedoes,

which are carried by the frigates,(Kidds), light maritime helicopters and

P-3Cs, are to be replaced by the MU90

Eurotorp from 2003.

Australian ArmyThe Army has recently completed a

major restructuring that has increasedreadiness levels significantly by expand-ing the 28-day Ready Deployment Force

(RDF) to two Brigades [1st Mechanised

Bde, 3rd Light Infantry Bde Rapid

Reaction Force (RRF)] plus a parachuteBattalion (Bn) group (3 RAR) and spe-cial operations and support elements,

including the Armys aviation assets, in

conjunction with a Deployable Joint

Force Headquarters (former 1st Division

HQ) which together comprise 70% ofthe Australian Regular Army (ARA).

An integrated Follow-on Force (7th

Task Force / Motorised Bde) of ARA andGeneral Reserve (GRes) personnel atmedium readiness rotate and reinforce

the RDF, while the GRes Bdes are resp-

onsibile for specific geographical areas

in Australia and vital asset protection.Increased readiness levels were

achieved with equipment redistributed

by reducing the GRes training pools and

transferring personnel to combat unitsfrom support and admin duties. In con-

junction with this two additional Bns ofthe Royal Australian Regiment (RAR)

were brought to full readiness through

2002, as with the RDF Bdes, in light ofcurrent and anticipated commitments.

The ADFs special operations capa-bility will increase by converting 4 RAR

to a Commando (CDO) Bn by mid-2004

which can eventually assume anti-terrorist duties, and provide specialist

security for the Sydney Olympics thisfall as part of a Bde level commitment of

ADF personnel, from the Special Air

Service (SAS) Regiment (Regt) so theSAS (with 27 integral long range patrol

vehicles) can concentrate on strategicReconnaissance (Recce) and other spe-

cial operations. Capability for heli-copter borne tactical mobility is

constrained by the availability of single

company-group lift capability.Northern approaches finally

received attention with the raising of

three GRes Regional Force Surveillance


The INTERFET force hits the beach at Suai, in the South West corner of East Timor.

HMAS Labuan (L128), HMAS Brunei (L127) and HMAS Balikapan (L126), providing the

force with the capability to make a beach landing to offload its vehicles. Hundreds

of troops from the Townsville based Third Brigade were moved from Dili onboard

HMAS Tobruk to set up a permanent security presence in the border town.

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