Spartan Spirit - Best for the West - Episode 4: Nuclear Submarines for Australia

Nuke Subs for Oz Podcast Notes

The Australia, United Kingdom and United States Partnership, called AUKUS is about deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. The cornerstone policy in this partnership is the provision of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.

 The podcast covers:

·       Submarines, including the difference between nuclear-powered and conventionally powered submarines, and the difference between nuclear-armed and conventionally armed submarines.

·       Historical examples of how submarines were highly influential.

·       Naval warfare theory and how submarines fit into that theory.

·       The roles of modern-day submarines.

·       How Australia might use a nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

·       Issues that Australia faces in acquiring submarines under the AUKUS partnership.

Quotes:

·       Winston Churchill “The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril”.

·       US Navy “Sea control is a nation’s ability to operate in the maritime domain without enemy interference” Sea control “enables strategic sealift and facilitates the arrival of follow-on forces.”

·       US Naval Post Graduate School “By itself, a sea denial strategy is not a war-winning strategy”.

Objective/neutral references:

·       National Interest.org https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/us-navy-has-name-its-new-strategy-sea-control-198580  

·       Rory Medcalf in the Australian Financial Review. Australia comes of age as an Indo-Pacific power | National Security College (anu.edu.au)

·       Hugh White, How to defend Australia (book)

·       Stephen Kuper in Defence Connect, https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/key-enablers/5275-he-s-back-hugh-white-seeks-to-clarify-how-to-defend-australia

·       Lieutenant Colonel Manning, US Marine Corps University, “Sea Control Feasible, Acceptable, Suitable, or Simply Imperative”.

·       Kim Beazley, “Nuclear-powered submarines are vital to Australia’s defence”. It’s an excellent read.

·       Peter Dean in The Australian, ‘Arguments against AUKUS don’t hold water’.

o   If you are only going to read one article about the AUKUS arrangement for Australian nuclear-powered submarines, this is the one.

·       Peter Jennings in The Australian, It’s time to return fire against AUKUS naysayers.

·       The International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) The AUKUS plan – a grand bargain with significant risks

·       The Carnegie Endowment, AUKUS submarine deal highlights tectonic shift in US-Australia alliance

Biased references:

·       Richard Dunley for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute ‘Is Sea Denial without sea control a viable strategy for Australia?’ An ill-informed piece that ignores some modern battlefield technology.

·       Albert Palazzo, for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, ‘The Opportunity Cost of AUKUS’. Illogical and naïve. Uses binary thinking.

·       The Australian Institute, ‘Talk us through AUKUS’. Blatantly wrong.

·       Hugh White in The Saturday Paper, The AUKUS submarines will never happen . Exaggerated and alarmist.

·       Greg Sheridan in The Australian, Bitter truth is we will never get any nuclear subs . Exaggerated and alarmist.

·       Paul Keating, Australia Broadcasting Corporation, Paul Keating’s tirades about AUKUS Biased anti-US nonsense.

·       The Lowy Institute, ‘THE BIG AUKUS QUESTION THAT ALBANESE HAS YET TO ANSWER.’ Terrible journalism.

In summary - we all need to get behind our politicians on this one and support the acquisition of nuclear submarines for Australia.