Shouldn't every major RAN warship feature a reasonable level of self-defence against air, surface and sub-surface threats though?
Even if only a pooled capability as we've traditionally done with Phalanx CIWS, I'd think a warship carrying as vital a cargo as the LHD's would be worth the rather minimal overall investment in a latent capability to add Phalanx etc as may be required for deployments...
Did you look at the PDF about the Army Division Amphib transition? A few things bug me about the new OpPlan suggested. One thing is the way it suggests a marathon deployment through enemy terrain hitting multiple objectives along the way all the way deep into enemy territory and back. Though in all honesty that is much easier imagined than actually done, unless of course its like Cobra 2, through the Desert with little resistance. I think anyone who reads the PDF will know what I mean, think Mountains, Rivers, Obstacles and monitored and guarded passes. And it wont be long before the Russians, Chinese and Iranians, etc catch on to the idea of CL20, making any conventional however asymetric attack even more difficult. As I recall they havent worried to much about collateral damage in the pass even though we currently dum it down. I think this is a relevant position to because of the Arms race in our region and surrounds as well as the fact that were in RIMPAC etc. But we really need to define what conflicts were likely to get into.
The ones that might never happen, defending Japan, Vietnam or the Philippians from China as part of a US led PACOM Force. In this case I like the idea. It was mentioned in a previous post that such actions would likely be suppored by the 7th Fleet and your concern would be neutralised by the sheer size of Comdesron San Diego, Everet and Pearl Harbor
see for yourself. you must Google. COMDEsRON 1 and then click through to Pacific Fleet Surface Ships.
This is why they say it will be over very quickly. China simply can not match the Tonnage of the USN despite the claims the USN has dropped in size back to 100 years ago'ish. Not to mention the Zumwalt, Gerald Ford and the F35 upgrades that are due to roll up.
Russia on the other hand paints a different story but they seem to be quite friendly these days. However they seem to be advancing to the stage of production on a number of platforms and are also buying up foreign platforms like the Mistral class which they are going to equip with KA52 Choppers. The other think is there state of the Art Stealth Frigate. If we get pulled into a spat with them it would be significant but it doesn't seem likely at this stage with the Russians probably more worried about containing China than getting into a fight with the US which is probably why they are quite chummy with India.
Recently I was made aware of the situation with East Timor, on the Border there they have been having some extreme issues with Rebel Activity as well as the usual problems fledgling countries have over economics. However it was signaled that our troops are currently on standby in New Guinea and Darwin. This is something the new plan would suit albeit on a much smaller scale than the full planned force could provide. The Choules may get its first Action I think (its not ready yet though is it). Then again I dont think they even need to many guys to go over there however they have two medium sized units on standby ready to go, or so I was told.
The middle east could get interesting. Todays West Australian published a story about Saudi Arabia becoming a net importer of Oil by 2030. Then you also have Iranian tensions. If we had Aircraft Carriers we could probably pull off a Invasion as good as Cobra 2 all by ourselves once the whole Amphib force is ready to deploy and it would be better by then to I would think with the way these things evolve.
The point being is that even though the AWD program is in my opinion inadequate and unacceptable given the way Passive Radar has surfaced and that we should be looking at more sleak designs (like the Zumwalt) rather than going legacy, the face remains that we should be more than fine with the current plan with the exception of probably looking at increasing the size of the whole force due to dry dock maintenance requirements. We could also probably look at getting a Elizabeth Class Carrier and look into ordering F35 B and C rather than relying solely on the Airforce to provide air support. This is my thinking, I hope I have added to the debate.
