By R F Hobson
Australia has become the world’s third largest arms importer for 2018-19, trailing behind India and Saudi Arabia which are the second and top global importers of military equipment, respectively.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) arms transfers database, Australia imported equipment from Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
This included aircraft, armoured vehicles, engines, missiles, naval weapons and sensors which – according to the institute’s trend value indicator (TVI) – totalled 1.39 billion.
The largest purchase was aircraft at 1.29 billion, followed by missiles at 33 million and sensors at 27 million. The US was Australia’s largest seller, taking in 1.22 billion, followed by Switzerland taking in 118 million and Germany, 31 million.
Australia is a newcomer to the international arms trade with the government only recently deciding to pursue an arms export industry and releasing its first product catalogue in 2017.
The government has also heavily promoted its desire to become a top 10 global arms exporter but has yet to secure a significant foreign manufacturing export contract and lost New Zealand as an export market for its F90 service rifle.
However, it has been active in selling and refurbishing surplus equipment which it sells or gifts to allies, an example of which is the donation of 21 Guardian-class patrol boats to 12 Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste under Pacific Patrol Boat program.
Further examples include the sale of two ex-Royal Australian Navy guided missile destroyers to Chile earlier last year and older model F/A 18 Hornet fighter jets to Canada and the US.
This is reflected in the SIPRI export figures which list seven million each to Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu, while Canada and the US registered 90 million and 30 million, respectively, totalling the export TVI to 148 million.
This places Australia as the world’s 19th largest arms exporter.
The patrol boats were designed and built by Austal, the same company which also builds the Independence variant of the US Navy’s littoral combat ship.
Canada and the US are historical allies while Chile and Australia have strong commercial and trade ties via the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement (ACIFTA) – which came into force in March 2009 – and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP-11) agreement, signed in 2018.
While launching the 2020 military sales catalogue last month, Defence industry minister Melissa Price said all surplus equipment on offer will be subject to ‘a rigorous approval process’.
Surplus equipment on offer are the ASLAV, Bushmaster, M113AS4 armoured personnel carrier vehicles, the F2 mortar system, a UV lamp used to test missile warning systems and the replenishment ship HMAS SIRIUS.
While prime contractors like Austal, Thales Australia, BAE Systems Australia, Boeing Defence Australia and Northrop Grumman continue to be staple vendors, a number of smaller firms are also featured, with some making their debut.
“Small businesses from each Australian state and territory are represented in the catalogue, highlighting the strength of Australia’s defence industry sector and the Morrison Government’s investment to grow innovative defence industry across the country,” Price said.
She also said buyers can also engage advisory and maintenance services, which are also advertised in the catalogue.
#mytwocents
It’s a little refreshing to see a more down to earth approach this year, especially the Australian government’s acknowledgement that whatever ‘success’ they’ve had was selling surplus and attracting multinationals to buy up local defence industries.
However, the whole arms export endeavour suffers from bombastic hubris and pie-in-the-sky fantasy at its inception, and continuing mediocrity tainted by the #ScottyfromMarketing approach to leadership.
The less said about the suffocating political spin, the better.
I would’ve expected a conservative government which prides itself on ‘strong border protection’ – albeit with an abnormal fetish for authoritarianism – to be able to play the Great Game with some proficiency.
But alas, Australia was royally schooled by Russian president Vladimir Putin in ‘hard power’ international relations when a squadron of ships from Russia’s pacific fleet showed up unannounced during the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane.
Although the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 did give then-prime minister Tony Abbott the moral high ground, his threats to ‘shirt-front’ Vlad at the event ultimately proved pathetic and flaccid.
It’s all fun and games until shit gets real.
And I don’t think the Morrison government has learnt from this. If anything, they’ve decided to turn their ‘trash talk’ towards their domestic political ‘opponents’, like refugees, migrants and welfare recipients… you know, generally people least able to fight back.
And let’s not forget the erosion of civil liberties.
But I digress.
Despite the harsh opinions I’ve expressed about Australia’s efforts to kick-start an arms export industry, I think it’s a positive thing.
All countries have a right to maintain their sovereignty, and the ability to manufacture your own products en mass is both an economic and strategic advantage. Especially when you have a regional superpower flexing its muscles in your backyard.
But I imagine most people don’t like being taken for a ride they didn’t ask for, and then being extorted for the fare. Plus having a political leadership which reflects the dynamics of a used-car dealership does not inspire confidence in this new anarchist-leaning global order.
And on that note, let me share a few reasons why this ‘export’ catalogue comes up short… again.
First, Australia’s jump from the world’s 22nd to 19th largest arms exporter may sound great to investors, but it is a little misleading.
Why? Because I suspect the exports to Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu are the ‘gifted’ patrol boats which were paid for and built by Australia.
Too many free samples do not constitute a profitable exports industry, and if we minus these figures Australia TVI would’ve only registered 120 million worth of exports.
Second, the defence industry is mainly composed of Australian subsidiaries of multinational companies. While that’s not a bad thing, it raises questions as to who will end up owning the patents of any weapons systems developed and ultimately where public money will end up.
Hopefully most of it will be in the pockets of Australian workers and businesses rather than overseas bank accounts. And while it’s encouraging to see local small businesses participate in the supply chain, isn’t the whole point of propping up a national arms manufacturing export industry is to have indigenous firms become prime contractors?
Third, the sale of Australia’s surplus F/A 18 Hornet fighters to the US and Canada is like trading in your old car for whatever credit you put towards a newer make or model at the dealership, or selling it to a friend at ‘mates rates’.
Defence Industry minister Price announced in early March that up to 46 retired aircraft will be sold to an American air combat training company called Air USA, which specialises in ‘tactical aircraft services’ to US defence agencies, defence contractors and foreign governments.
Sounds like Top Gun for hire.
The F/A 18s will be added to the company’s collection of the BAE Hawk, Dassault-Bruguet-Dornier Alpha Jet, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 29 and Aero L-59 Super Albatros aircraft.
A trade dispute between Boeing and Bombardier Areospace precipitated the Canadian purchase in 2017, which seems to be more of a temporary measure until the Canadian government finalizes their decision to replace their entire Hornet fleet in the next couple of years with either the SAAB Grippen, F/A 18 Super Hornet or the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
And finally, the PC-9 training aircraft – which didn’t seem to register on SIPRI’s Australian export figures for 2019 – are being auctioned off to the general public by Australian Frontline Machinery.
It’s a company which specializes in the sale of ex-ADF equipment and if we are to believe their website, the starting price of all listed items is $9.
So… an aircraft worth hundreds of thousands of dollars could potentially be sold for $9.
I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
Ok.
I love a bargain like the next person and do find Bargain Hunt a very entertaining show, but is this the template the Australian government wants to follow in developing its much vaulted export arms industry?
It’s a legitimate question because the government risks this whole arms export thing becoming a joke, especially if export controls and regulations are not equally applied to the auctioned equipment if the buyers decide to ship them overseas.
Plus the bidders could be proxies for private military companies or other mercenary groups.
Yes, you can laugh at the suggestion, but there are two Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters rusting away in a Darwin garbage dump which were meant to be used by mercenary firm Sandline International to seize the Panguna copper-gold mine from rebel forces during the Bougainville Civil War back in the 1990s.
It’s not too much of a stretch to think ex-ADF equipment could be used in such a way, especially if it finds its way into conflict zones where Australian soldiers operate in.
It’ll be beyond awkward for the government trying to explain to the world why an ISIS flag maybe flying from a Bushmaster or ASLAV vehicle.
the melancholic seeker 