APSNet 15 March 2010
- Warning on delays for fighter jets
- Thales in Combet sights
- Japan angry on nuclear shift
- [Indonesia] Change with a few rough edges
- Aussie soldiers capture senior Taliban leader
- East Timor threatens to scuttle gas development
- Nuclear weapons: arms control, proliferation and nuclear security
1. Warning on delays for fighter jets, Simon Mann and Kirsty Needham, Age, 2010-03-13
Australia could be delivered aircraft with stripped-back war fighter capabilities, in addition to facing further cost blow-outs to the Joint Strike Fighter program, a leading analyst has said. The price for each of the US-built new-generation fighter jets that will form the centrepiece of Australia’s future air defences is nearing $122 million – more than double the 2001 estimate.
- Joint Strike Fighter: significant challenges remain as DOD restructures program, United States Government Accountability Office, 2010-03-11, [PDF, 186KB]
- F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, Media Release, Department of Defence, 2010-03-12
2. Thales in Combet sights, John Kerin, AFR*, 2010-03-15
Defence Materiel Minister Greg Combet has ordered a review of all “poor value for money” long-term Defence contracts with industry as part of a $20 billion drive to cut wasteful spending.
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- Defence must face tougher scrutiny, Brian Toohey, AFR*, 2010-03-13
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3. Japan angry on nuclear shift, Dennis Shanahan, Australian, 2010-03-15
Diplomatic tensions between Australia and Japan are spreading beyond the emotional issue of whale hunting in the Antarctic, as Japanese resentment grows at Kevin Rudd’s decision not to attend a nuclear disarmament meeting in Washington next month.
- “Towards a World without Nuclear Weapons”, Joint Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, Media Release, 2010-02-21
4. Change with a few rough edges, Hamish McDonald, SMH, 2010-03-13
As Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gets into his second five-year term, Yudhoyono has been showered with accolades in Canberra as a political game-changer. The question among many analysts, though, is how permanently has SBY changed the game in Jakarta.
5. Aussie soldiers capture senior Taliban leader, Mark Dodd, Australian, 2010-03-15
Australian special forces and the Afghan National Army have captured a senior Taliban militant in a joint operation in southern Oruzgan province.
- Taliban commander captured in Afghan-led SOTG operation, Media Release, Department of Defence, 2010-03-14
6. East Timor threatens to scuttle gas development, ABC News, 2010-03-13
East Timor’s president Jose Ramos-Horta says his country is serious about making sure its interests are not ignored in the development of the Greater Sunrise Gas field.
7. Nuclear weapons: arms control, proliferation and nuclear security, Special Report Issue 29, Rod Lyon, ASPI, 2010-03-11
The nuclear arms control agenda currently enjoys a prominence that it has not had since the first half of the 1990s. This report explores a range of issues, including President Obama’s Prague commitments, the looming Global Nuclear Security Summit, and the scheduled Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.