Australia stands at a maritime crossroads. The choices it makes in the coming years will shape not only its security and economic prosperity, but also the stability of the wider Indo-Pacific region. The Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, as covered in detail by The Australian, showcased this inflection point: expanding geopolitical competition, rapid technological advancement, the urgency of capability development, and the revitalization of Australia’s sovereign maritime industry.
What is the nature of this inflection point as highlighted in the 18 articles which makes up their Indo-Pacific special report published during the Exposition? This article underscores the themes highlighted in the articles and directs the reader to The Australian for the articles themselves.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/special-reports/indo-pacific
Australia now operates in the most complex and contested strategic environment since World War II. Its vast maritime domain, covering nearly 11 million square kilometers, more than the country’s own landmass, presents both opportunity and vulnerability. Maritime trade, resource security, and regional influence all hinge on the ability to safeguard this domain amid rising tensions, especially with the shifting dynamics of great power competition between the US and China.
The Indo-Pacific, with its increasingly crowded sea lanes and flashpoints (from the South China Sea to the Pacific Islands), requires a sea power response that is layered, agile, and technologically sophisticated.
To meet these challenges, Australia is substantially increasing its defence budget, with an extra $70 billion allocated over the coming decade (a rise to 2.4% of GDP). The focus is clear: sea power is at the heart of the national security strategy, with major investments in new ships, submarines, aircraft, autonomous systems, and surveillance networks.
This surge in funding aims to accelerate the entry of cutting-edge capabilities into service. Speed to capability, bringing next-generation assets online as quickly as possible, is not simply a design preference but an operational imperative in the face of rapidly changing regional dynamics and lessons learned from recent conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine.
One of the key themes at the Exposition was the imperative to dominate the maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) domain. The RAAF’s P-8A Poseidon fleet, now at 13 aircraft, exemplifies Australia’s rapid expansion of airborne maritime monitoring. Operating at high altitudes with advanced radar and sensor packages, the Poseidons offer a sensor footprint impossible for surface ships to match. These capabilities are being continuously upgraded, enhancing detection, tracking, and strike functionalities.
Complementing the Poseidons are the MQ-4C Triton unmanned surveillance aircraft. Capable of 24-hour endurance missions at altitudes exceeding 50,000 feet, Tritons provide persistent coverage of Australia’s vast oceanic approaches. The addition of MC-55A electronic warfare aircraft and ongoing upgrades to the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) deliver space-based and over-the-horizon surveillance, multiplying the ADF’s ability to monitor millions of square kilometers for threats, illegal fishing, and grey-zone incursions.
Perhaps the most visible symbol of Australia’s maritime modernization is Project Sea 3000, which will see the rapid acquisition of 11 Mogami-class General Purpose Frigates (GPFs) from Japan. These stealthy, missile-laden vessels fundamentally shift the Navy’s surface combatant capabilities:
Compared to the outgoing Anzac-class ships, the Mogami design boasts signature management for reduced detection, expanded VLS (Vertical Launch System) missile cells (32 strike-length), and the ability to launch advanced missile types including the SM-2, SM-6, and Tomahawk. These enhancements expand both defensive and offensive strike ranges nearly tenfold—from 275 km to 2500 km.
- Automation and crew efficiency: A reduction of around 80 personnel per ship, aided by advanced automation, will help address workforce constraints and lower lifecycle costs.
- Local construction: Eight of the eleven ships will be built in Western Australia, reinforcing both sovereign shipbuilding capacity and the government’s continuous naval shipbuilding policy, intended to avoid previous “valleys of death” in the local defence industry.
- Speed is central. Accelerated procurement processes and international collaboration—Japan is releasing early production slots for Australia—mean the first new frigate enters service in 2029, years ahead of previous schedules.
Autonomous and optionally crewed platforms dominated technical demonstrations and policy statements at the Exposition. Australia recognizes that traditional crewed platforms, no matter how capable, cannot cover a maritime region of this scale alone. The future is distributed, persistent, and unmanned:
- Surface autonomy: Australian companies like Austal and Greenroom Robotics have demonstrated the AROS (Autonomous Remotely Operated Ships) platform controller, which enables patrol boats and larger vessels to operate autonomously for hundreds of nautical miles, avoiding obstacles and performing ISR tasks without human intervention.
- Large Optionally Crewed Surface Vessels (LOSVs): Two “Vantage-class” designs (25 m and 55 m) are under development to provide flexible logistics, reconnaissance, and even strike support, extending presence into hostile and remote waters at low risk.
- Ghost Shark Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Australia is investing $1.7 billion in the Ghost Shark program, which focuses on extra-large, long-range, stealthy undersea drones for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike. These platforms can operate with sophisticated autonomy, even in GPS- and communications-denied environments—multiplying the effect of crewed assets and providing new options for seabed warfare and undersea networking.
The integration challenge is real: ADF and industry leaders emphasize that success is not just about fielding new platforms, but about fusing them into a single “system of systems,” with networked command, control, and information flows that optimize both human and machine assets.
A recurring theme is the revitalization and expansion of the local defence industrial base:
- Australian industry expansion: Companies such as Birdon and Austal have leveraged domestic contracts to become global exporters and design leaders in military support vessels, workboats, and emerging domains like autonomy. Birdon’s US and European successes underscore the value of early local investment for international competitiveness.
- Technology transfer and supply chain resilience: New defence projects, such as the partnership with Japan for the Mogami frigates and ongoing negotiations with South Korea’s Hanwha and Korea Shipbuilding, are intended to bring not only hardware but also skills and technology transfer to Australian workers. This strengthens Australia’s ability to innovate independently and ensures that critical supply chains are less exposed to global shocks.
- Workforce development: Shipbuilding and aerospace projects, from Poseidon upgrades to offshore patrol vessel construction, are generating high-skill jobs and apprenticeship pipelines—seen as essential to the long-term viability of the defence sector.
Australia’s maritime transformation is not occurring in isolation:
- AUKUS partnership: The trilateral security pact with the US and UK is foundational, especially in the area of nuclear-powered submarine construction, advanced weapons, and ITAR-free technology sharing within the trusted alliance context. Australia is on track to receive its first Virginia-class submarine in the early 2030s and has begun constructing a local nuclear submarine yard in Osborne.
- Regional partnerships: The selection of the Mogami-class frigate reflects a deliberate diversification of Australia’s capability partnerships to include key Asian allies like Japan. Defence links with South Korea are deepening, particularly around missile, C4I, and shipbuilding technology—even as some commentators urge the government not to neglect opportunities for further co-development.
- Pacific security pacts: The new “Pukpuk Treaty” with Papua New Guinea extends not only force integration and shared doctrine, but also the potential for PNG personnel to join the ADF, expanding the force pool and reinforcing local roots for regional security initiatives. Similar alliances are in motion with Nauru, Tuvalu, and are being explored with Fiji and Vanuatu—explicitly to preclude strategic encroachment by external adversaries.
The Albanese government has prioritized missile firepower, with Naval Strike Missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and Standard Missile 6 now in service years ahead of schedule. The rapid expansion of standoff strike capability and layered air and missile defense systems is intended to send a clear deterrence signal: Australia can hold potential adversaries at risk far from its shores, complicating any threat calculations against the continent.
Several analysts caution that alliance structures should not be based solely on threat containment. The decline of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is viewed as a lesson in the limitations of security groupings that lack deep institutional, cultural, and economic alignment. Instead, they urge a balanced approach that combines deterrence and military readiness with engagement, dialogue, and accommodation, especially regarding relationships with major powers such as India and China.
The trajectory articulated at the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition is one of urgency, ambition, and calculated risk. The main arguments and way forward:
- Accelerate capability introduction: Lessons from Ukraine and elsewhere show that technology can transform defense at a breathtaking pace. Australia must avoid slow procurement cycles, with rapid acquisition and fielding as a new norm.
- Diversify partnerships, keep options open: While AUKUS and U.S. backing remain fundamental, deeper engagement with Asian powers (Japan, South Korea) and the Pacific are essential for resilience and flexibility.
- Invest in autonomy and digital integration: Success will depend on marrying advanced autonomous capabilities, human skills, and rapidly evolving digital infrastructure into a seamless joint force.
- Grow sovereign industry and skills: A healthy domestic defense industry, sustained shipbuilding, and a growing skilled workforce will be the backbone for long-term maritime security.
- Balance deterrence with diplomacy: Armed strength is critical, but should be matched with an active pursuit of dialogue, regional confidence building, and mutual accommodation to avoid an arms race spiral.
In summary, Australia’s way ahead in the maritime sphere is defined by a historic expansion of capability, with cutting-edge platforms, robust alliances, and sovereign industry at its heart. The pace of change is accelerating, and the choices made now will shape both Australian and regional security for decades to come.
Here is our latest look at Australian defence which will appear in paperback on December 1, 2025, but is available now in e-book form on Amazon: