According to media reports, the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of Japan and Australia are scheduled to meet in November on Australian soil without specifying the exact city and time of the meeting. It is known that the main topics will be the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the joint development of military equipment (in particular, the transfer of Japanese technologies for building submarines), as well as the interaction of the armed forces. It is clear that both countries can discuss joint defense issues, meaning primarily China, and not Russia or, say, Indonesia, although these countries will undoubtedly receive their own share of attention.
Australian UDC HMAS Adelaide and HMAS Canberra
Both Japan and Australia are longtime US allies in the Pacific region and, more recently, members of the TPP, which is rapidly evolving from an economic alliance into a military alliance. Considering that any economy needs to expand, including through direct military seizure of markets and sources of raw materials, the hint for the neighbors is more than transparent. In addition, the two countries are united by the American military presence. But if Tokyo would like to get rid of some of the American bases, then Canberra, on the contrary, wants to get them. Rumors that several thousand US Marines may move from Okinawa to the Australian coast have been circulating for several years.
Australia has long made a tacit turn from the concept of protecting its own shores to a new imperialism. This is noticeable not only in rhetoric and one-time actions like the insignificant bombing of ISIS, but above all in the scale of naval construction.
The most impressive novelty is undoubtedly the Canberra-class helicopter carriers, built according to the Spanish project of the UDC Juan Carlos I, and are the largest ships of the Australian fleet in its entire history. Each of the two new ships is capable of carrying up to 1,600 troops and 110 vehicles. And the hangar can accommodate up to 18 helicopters.
The Australian sailors have so far abandoned the initial idea of basing the F-35B aircraft, as well as the carrier-based fighters and attack aircraft, but the fact that the helicopter carriers left a springboard that migrated straight from the Spanish project suggests that this refusal is not at all final … As you know, a helicopter does not need a springboard.
In addition to helicopter carriers, the Royal Navy is acquiring other serious ships. These include the HMAS landing dock “Choules”, built in Britain and sold to Australia in 2011, and the ADV auxiliary vessel “Ocean Shield” and three Hobart-class destroyers, which are currently under construction.
Landing ship dock HMAS "Choules"
The latter are no less interesting than the new helicopter carriers. Declared as anti-aircraft, they also have serious anti-ship capabilities: 8 cells of the Mk41 UVP will certainly be filled with Harpoon missiles, which, if desired, can be replaced by Tomahawks. By and large, "Hobart" will become a universal destroyer, although first of all it is an air defense / missile defense ship, where a combination of the Aegis system and RIM-66 Standard 2 missiles opens up great opportunities for it. At the moment, besides the United States, only Japan and South Korea. Who is Australia going to fend off with such a specific weapon? Obviously not from Indonesia. Apparently, the United States is preparing its allies for the possible creation of an anti-missile blockade of either China or the Russian Far East. How realistic such plans are is another question, but measures in this direction will be taken.
One thing is clear - in two or three years Australia will be able to deploy large forces of its own almost anywhere in the world. And definitely not for the purpose of defending some distant possessions. Today Australia has seven overseas territories: three of them are uninhabited, and one - Antarctic - is not recognized by the international community. For their defense, helicopter carriers are not needed, and this is not a defensive weapon. It would not hurt to remember that Australia gained considerable benefits from the results of both world wars, both direct in the form of territories and wealth, and indirect - in the form of immigration to the green continent of European citizens. In the 21st century, it will no longer be possible to sit on the sidelines, dragging chestnuts from the fire with someone else's hands. Whose legacy is Canberra going to share this time?
The latest news only confirms the above findings. Just recently (October 27), Australia warmly supported the American initiative to send a destroyer to the South China Sea, where it will illustratively violate the 12-mile zone around the Chinese part of the Spratly Islands in a sign of non-recognition of Beijing's claims to these waters. As Australian Defense Secretary Maris Payne noted, "Nearly 60% of Australia's total exports go to other countries through the South China Sea." If the Chinese do not swallow the insult, but decide to conflict, then hot times for the green continent may begin much earlier than many think. Nobody canceled the allied debt.
