[IQi] 'AUKUS - What and Why': How to Bridge Australia's Military Capability Gap

”No matter which way you crumble this cookie, there is going to be a capability gap… in the meantime to bridge the capability gap we are looking at other things like the long-range fires and the Tomahawk missiles that we also agreed on AUKUS.” – Hayley Channer

We hosted our 6th Inconvenient Questions International (IQi) discussion ’AUKUS – What and Why?’ on Wednesday 27 Oct 2021.

In this clip, Hayley Channer, a Senior Research Fellow at Perth USAsia Centre and formerly from the Australian Department of Defence, articulated Australia's strategic considerations behind AUKUS.

Hayley was responding to a comment by Louis Devine, a Schwarzman scholar from Australia, which we shared with you in the last clip. Louis highlighted how Australia's current submarines are getting old and for Australia to receive the nuclear-powered submarines only in the 2030s, which are the current terms agreed in AUKUS, may create a military capability gap for Australia's defence forces.

In response, Hayley explained that these terms are not very different from the former submarine deal signed with France. Hayley also elaborated on other ways that Australia is taking to reduce this capability gap.

What are the key considerations behind Australia’s foreign policy towards China? How important are these nuclear-powered submarines in protecting Australia’s national security at a time of US-China strategic competition?

Tune in to this clip to find out:

Listen to the full recording of the robust 1.5-hour discussion:

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