The shadow defence minister has urged the federal government to explore the potential of purchasing the in-development B-21 Raider.
Andrew Hastie referenced remarks from Admiral Phil Davidson, the former Commander of Indo-Pacific Command, who last year warned China could take military action against Taiwan over the next six years — a timeline referred to as the ‘Davidson window’.
"We zijn nu vijf jaar [weg] als we zijn tijdlijn volgen [en] we zullen de komende vijf jaar geen nucleaire onderzeeër zien", zei schaduwminister Hastie.
“De vraag is, wat gaan we doen om dat in de komende vijf jaar te voorkomen, en daarom moeten we beginnen te praten over aanvalsmogelijkheden zoals raketten en mogelijk B-21's uit de Verenigde Staten.
“We need to be able to hold an adversary at risk, at distance, out passed the archipelago to our north and in order to do that, you need strike capabilities — missiles, aircraft and long-term, nuclear submarines.”
De B-21 is het 'vervolg' op de UFO-achtige B-2 Spirit, die kernwapens kan dragen en elk 2 miljard dollar kost.
Introduced in the late 1980s, the batwing bomber is seen as the US’ most prestigious and prized aircraft, with only 20 in active service.
It comes weeks after five of the originals arrived at Base Amberley for een maand training met RAAF F-35's, in wat zeker de grootste inzet ooit in de regio was.
Hastie’s backing of the new B-21 Raider comes just days after Northrop Grumman confirmed the bomber is scheduled to be officially unveiled in the first week of December.
BEVORDERDE INHOUD
The shadow minister also acknowledged the capability gap ahead of the delivery of Australia’s future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines promised under AUKUS.
He backed the purchase of existing SSN designs — like the United Kingdom’s Astute Class and the United States’ Virginia Class vessels — in light of the government’s reported interest in supporting the development of a new design in cooperation with AUKUS partners.
“We’ll wait and see what comes out in March when the AUKUS working group finishes its work,” he said.
“But I think we want to make it as least complex as possible, which means going with one of the established designs — either the Astute Class or the Virginia Class…”
Shadow minister Hastie noted the importance of strengthening Australia’s sovereign defence industry but stressed “capability must come first”.
