In the midst of an intensifying Asia-Pacific arms race, Australia unveiled a ten-year plan on Tuesday to treble the number of big warships in its fleet and increase defense spending by an additional US$7 billion.
Australia’s navy will have 26 large surface combatant ships under the plan, up from the current 11 ships.
“It is the largest fleet that we will have since the end of the Second World War,” said Defence Minister Richard Marles.
Six frigates of the Hunter class, eleven general-purpose frigates, and six cutting-edge surface combatants that don’t require crews will be constructed in Australia.
A significant deterrence will be provided by the fleet’s capacity to launch Tomahawk missiles, which can conduct long-range stand-off strikes on targets located far inside enemy territory.
The revelation follows competitor China and Russia’s huge arsenal building, and it coincides with escalating hostilities between wary US-led allies and increasingly assertive authoritarian regimes.
Under the proposed plan, Australia would surpass its NATO allies’ two percent threshold by increasing defense spending to 2.4 percent of GDP.
More than 3,000 employment will be created by the construction of some of the ships in Adelaide; however, other ships will be built using US designs and an as-yet-undetermined design from Spain, Germany, South Korea, or Japan.
