Tanks, howitzers axed in major overhaul of defence spending priorities

The federal authorities will dramatically scale back their deliberate buy of tanks and howitzers to liberate cash for different defence priorities, Nine Newspapers studies.

Instead it’ll search to purchase a HIMARS long-range rocket system, which is already getting used to nice impact by Ukraine in opposition to the Russian invaders.

Also being added to the purchasing checklist are extra amphibious manoeuvre vessels, drones, cyber defences and jet fighters.

The government wants to buy far fewer LAND 400 Phase 3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles. — The authorities needs to purchase far fewer LAND 400 Phase 3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles. (Australian Defence Force)

The plans are a part of a evaluation that’s set to be launched on Monday, calling for dramatic adjustments in spending priorities for the navy.

The Albanese authorities is pointing the finger on the earlier authorities for his or her budgeting.

In 2018, then-Defence Minister Marise Payne introduced the acquisition of 450 LAND 400 Phase 3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles at an estimated price of $27 billion.

The evaluation asks to scale back that order to 129, a single battalion.

The evaluation sought the acquisition of HIMARS rockets as a defence precedence. (AP)

The M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers presently in service have been used for the reason that mid-Nineteen Sixties.

The evaluation additionally recommends instantly cancelling the order for a second regiment of self-propelled howitzers.

Speaking to ABC, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil mentioned the Defence Force was presently not prepared to fulfill the challenges Australia would face in coming many years.

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“The government has every belief that it is possible for us to meet these challenges, but we’re not going to do it if we continue the waste and neglect that we saw over that preceding decade,” she mentioned.

“What we are talking about here is making sure that the Australian Defence Force is fit for purpose for the years ahead.”