Post by corsair67 on Aug 24, 2006 10:28:43 GMT 12
Interesting article from The Australian about a possible shortfall in funding.
I wonder if Howard will take the bait, and throw a few billion more into the kitty?
Tall order to fund defence
Mark Dodd
August 24, 2006.
THE defence force is likely to run out of money to operate the billions of dollars worth of new military equipment it has on order.
Respected defence think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said Australia was undertaking the most "comprehensive and expensive" military build-up since the mid-1960s.
Included in this year's defence budget was a provision for an off-the-shelf purchase of four C-17 strategic lift aircraft for almost $2.2billion, Abrams tanks, armed helicopters, airborne early-warning and air-to-air refuelling aircraft, amphibious assault ships, air warfare destroyers and 100 "next generation" Joint Strike Fighters.
But despite a 3 per cent rise in defence spending this year, the institute warned that the current $20 billion allocation might fall short of what was required.
"There's still a mismatch between plans and funding," the institute says in its "Your defence dollar -- the 2006-07 defence budget" report. "Put simply, not enough money has been set aside in the future to operate our current equipment, let alone that which is now being purchased," it says.
"On current plans, rising personnel costs and escalating investment levels look certain to squeeze the money available for operating costs from 2008-09 onwards."
More than $1.5 billion of this year's allocation will go towards the restructuring of the army into combined arms battle groups, involving the additional recruitment of 1485 personnel and the creation of a "high readiness reserve". Overseas deployments including a new mission in Afghanistan are budgeted at $623 million.
The institute says the affordability of current plans needs to be assured because it makes no sense to be spending billions of dollars on new equipment unless it is certain there is enough money to operate it.
I wonder if Howard will take the bait, and throw a few billion more into the kitty?
Tall order to fund defence
Mark Dodd
August 24, 2006.
THE defence force is likely to run out of money to operate the billions of dollars worth of new military equipment it has on order.
Respected defence think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said Australia was undertaking the most "comprehensive and expensive" military build-up since the mid-1960s.
Included in this year's defence budget was a provision for an off-the-shelf purchase of four C-17 strategic lift aircraft for almost $2.2billion, Abrams tanks, armed helicopters, airborne early-warning and air-to-air refuelling aircraft, amphibious assault ships, air warfare destroyers and 100 "next generation" Joint Strike Fighters.
But despite a 3 per cent rise in defence spending this year, the institute warned that the current $20 billion allocation might fall short of what was required.
"There's still a mismatch between plans and funding," the institute says in its "Your defence dollar -- the 2006-07 defence budget" report. "Put simply, not enough money has been set aside in the future to operate our current equipment, let alone that which is now being purchased," it says.
"On current plans, rising personnel costs and escalating investment levels look certain to squeeze the money available for operating costs from 2008-09 onwards."
More than $1.5 billion of this year's allocation will go towards the restructuring of the army into combined arms battle groups, involving the additional recruitment of 1485 personnel and the creation of a "high readiness reserve". Overseas deployments including a new mission in Afghanistan are budgeted at $623 million.
The institute says the affordability of current plans needs to be assured because it makes no sense to be spending billions of dollars on new equipment unless it is certain there is enough money to operate it.
