Details have come in about the latest US military aid package for Ukraine and it looks to be a disappointment. President Donald Trump has given Russia 50 days to start peace negotiations but that coincides with the start of the Autumn rains when ground campaigning grinds – or bogs – to a halt.
Also for the weapons part of the equation – nothing is being given to Ukraine, all of the systems are being sold at normal commercial rates to NATO allies, who will in turn transfer them. In the last few days both PM Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have said that for Australia what counts is not what we are spending on Defence but rather the capability being acquired. This is exactly the point – the ADF is going backwards. Sacking a few senior military and civilian figures, which is in the pipeline, won’t help. Let’s do something useful such as acquiring South Korea’s equivalent of Patriot – the KM-SAM – and building it in Australia. That would make an important practical difference, but for it to happen needs a major change of mindset within Defence.
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