malewithatail
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Location: Northern Rivers NSW
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Post by malewithatail on Mar 14, 2023 10:43:06 GMT 10
Looked up our old farm at Albion Park, value last sold in 2017 at a cool 1.5 million. For 16 odd acres of scrub covered cliff face. Admittedly it had enough water to run a hydro electric turbine.
Trapped between the ocean and the mountains, with only a few ways out. A million others trying to get out at the same time........houses almost touching roofs........polluted beaches and creeks.........was time to get out.
No regrets, with 130 km round trip to town, and even though this land is harder to work with its sandy/clay soil that wears out machinery, once its cultivated and some mulch etc added, it will grow anything.
If something doesn't work, apply rule .303!
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Post by Stealth on Mar 14, 2023 14:39:46 GMT 10
Hot off the press - FACT SHEET: Trilateral Australia-UK-US Partnership on Nuclear-Powered SubmarinesTL; DR Embedded Personnel and Port Visits. Beginning in 2023, Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with the United States Navy, the United Kingdom Royal Navy and, subject to any necessary arrangements, within the United States and United Kingdom submarine industrial bases. This will accelerate the training and development of Australian personnel to ensure our ability to work together and for Australians to take on the responsibilities associated with these programs. The United States plans to increase SSN port visits to Australia beginning in 2023, with Australian sailors joining U.S. crews for training and development; the United Kingdom will increase visits to Australia beginning in 2026. Submarine Rotational Forces. As early as 2027, the United Kingdom and the United States plan to establish a rotational presence of one UK Astute class submarine and up to four U.S. Virginia class submarines at HMAS Stirling near Perth, Western Australia – this initiative will be known as ‘Submarine Rotational Force-West’ (SRF-West). This rotational presence will comply fully with Australia’s longstanding position of no foreign bases on its territory. It will put our nations shoulder to shoulder as Australia builds the necessary operational capabilities and skills to steward and operate its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. Australia is launching an ambitious national effort to grow its defense and industrial workforce to support this plan. Sale of U.S. Virginia Class Submarines. Beginning in the early 2030s, pending approval from the U.S. Congress, the United States intends to sell Australia three Virginia class submarines, with the potential to sell up to two more if needed. This action is critical to continue growing Australia’s ability to own and operate a fleet of SSNs, and to provide Australia with a sovereign capability at the earliest possible date. It also ensures Australia sustains its undersea capabilities until SSN-AUKUS is ready, given the planned retirement of Australia’s current fleet of submarines. SSN-AUKUS. The combination of United Kingdom submarine design and advanced United States technology is intended to deliver a best-in-class submarine that meets Australia’s long-term defense needs while bolstering trilateral industrial cooperation. SSN-AUKUS will be the future attack submarine for both Australia and the United Kingdom. Australia and the United Kingdom intend to start building SSN-AUKUS in their domestic shipyards before the end of this decade. The United Kingdom intends to deliver its first SSN-AUKUS to the UK Royal Navy in the late 2030s. Australia plans to deliver the first Australian-built SSN-AUKUS to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s. So I guess base your assumed timelines on 2 years shorter than that if their plan B is to double the rate of effort due to increased activity in the region. Which I feel like will probably happen the second China gets a whiff of this. |
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Post by Joey on Mar 14, 2023 18:55:14 GMT 10
China is just cranky because they prob know the weaknesses and can track our Collins subs, but with the Nuke-powered subs, they can't track them and know they have much longer underwater endurance and a higher level of stealth.
Expect to see a lot more Chinese "survey" spy ships hanging around our coastlines mapping the sea floor and getting data on our sub-movements like they have been doing a lot of the recent years off Karratha and other sub-routes off WA.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Mar 15, 2023 7:27:25 GMT 10
A nuke sub will never be as quiet as a diesel/electric...Why ? Because a nuke vessel always needs a coolant pump running to keep the reactor cool, and is therefore detectable.
Wonder how the people of Brisbane/Newcastle/Port Kembla think abut being a nuke target like Pine Gap ? Someone should ask them. Aint gunna happen.....
Boom, Boom! Tikka, Tikka, Boom! Shoot first, video later.
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Mar 15, 2023 7:46:25 GMT 10
Wonder how the people of Brisbane/Newcastle/Port Kembla think abut being a nuke target like Pine Gap ? Someone should ask them. Aint gunna happen..... Boom, Boom! Tikka, Tikka, Boom! Shoot first, video later. The Pt Kembla hookers will be happy with all the extra seamen |
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Mar 15, 2023 11:04:48 GMT 10
Wonder how the people of Brisbane/Newcastle/Port Kembla think abut being a nuke target like Pine Gap ? Someone should ask them. Aint gunna happen..... Boom, Boom! Tikka, Tikka, Boom! Shoot first, video later. The Pt Kembla hookers will be happy with all the extra seamen Especially the yanks who think they've got the biggest ****s on the planet! Milk em girls milk em! |
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Post by Stealth on Mar 15, 2023 15:27:17 GMT 10
Wonder how the people of Brisbane/Newcastle/Port Kembla think abut being a nuke target like Pine Gap ? Someone should ask them. Aint gunna happen..... Unfortunately at some point you have to put your foot down and say "Sorry, sucks to be you but this is the most logical place for this and if you don't like it, you're going to have to take a walk". Does it suck? Absolutely. At every point of a defence establishment's creation in Australia the closest locals are disadvantaged by becoming a potential target based on location alone. Darwin. Adelaide. Melbourne. Sydney. Perth. Many others. All of those places have been established close enough to a population that will support a military base and there's been people who've been mad about it. And fair enough. But large facilities MUST be close to appropriate logistical support and quick resupply is paramount. So they're never going to pick a spot in the middle of nowhere so as not to irritate anyone or keep locals off the radar. It simply can't work. Realistically every single major city becomes a target in a time of war regardless. Particularly ones that are important to logistics and movements for the entire country. Bombing civilians shouldn't happen but how else do you make the big wigs listen? So they bomb the cities where they can have the most impact and the best chance of effect. They're not the first point of attack but they're certainly very high up on the list of least amount of assets to use with the biggest impact. So yeah it sucks, but if it gains us a credible defensive capacity what else can they do? |
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Mar 15, 2023 17:04:07 GMT 10
It may be too simple a question, but why do we need them ?
I suspect its to do with annoying China. An expensive way to show solidarity with America.
What could we do for homeless, veterans and so on with 350 billion smakas ?
I note that we will ultimately be responsible for the disposal of the waste and worn out reactors.
We will probably resort to our standard way of disposing of rubbish by throwing it in a big hole for a few gazillion years.
Very environmentally friendly people we are.
I've been asked: "How many guns do you need to have?" My answer remains the same: "One more."
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bushdoc2
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Post by bushdoc2 on Mar 15, 2023 17:04:34 GMT 10
Yep.
You can risk your own city becoming a target, or shut down the military and the whole country becomes a target.
Being a NIMBY is ok up to a point, but these people don't understand maths, or chess.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Mar 15, 2023 17:29:58 GMT 10
Or reality.......
The more self sufficient people are, the less they care about the external world.
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Mar 15, 2023 17:44:05 GMT 10
As much as I despise alignments with other countries (especially the UK & US), the fact of the matter is that the CCP will need stomping on if they continue on their current path. Spending this much on weapons which we dont even have the expertise to maintain is going to make us even more of a to these two nations...but if China keeps on this path we are going to need deterrence in the next 10~20 years. We are weak and will have to buy this deterrence from other countries to gain favour as well as the hardware.
While we continue to think the path to wealth in this country is more suburban boxes then the longer we will be reliant on other nations. If we invested in ourselves, we would have a land-based nuclear deterrence in a few years...just like Sweden & Germany probably will.
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Post by Joey on Mar 15, 2023 18:38:56 GMT 10
The Pt Kembla hookers will be happy with all the extra seamen Especially the yanks who think they've got the biggest ****s on the planet! Milk em girls milk em! Whenever a yank boat pulled into brisbane, you could never expect to be able to visit any of the brothels because they would run mini buses back and forth running sailors to and from the brothels. Sadly, with the price tag the new subs come with, there is talk that a lot of other army procurement projects will get canned to free up some extra defence budget for the subs. I wouldn't be surprised if albo asks china for a loan for the subs lol |
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Post by SA Hunter on Mar 17, 2023 8:37:59 GMT 10
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Mar 17, 2023 8:43:35 GMT 10
I would of spent the the sub money on a couple of hundred more of these Tomahawks and a couple of more destroyers...job done. You could shut down China's energy and food imports with these if need be...the Yanks could do the rest.
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Mar 17, 2023 10:03:09 GMT 10
Another shot in the foot by DoD. 1970’s technology for current day conflicts. That money would be much better spent developing and building hypersonic missiles here in Aus. |
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Mar 17, 2023 10:38:44 GMT 10
The base tech was developed in the 80s but the guidance pack in them now wasn't. The US developed hypersonic gear back in the 80s as well and didn't see any need to continue with them...they are dusting off some of it now but they dont seem to be in a hurry.
I do agree we should be developing our own stuff but it aint gonna happen.
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Mar 18, 2023 6:49:33 GMT 10
If we hung on long enough we would've got em for free!
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Mar 24, 2023 8:21:42 GMT 10
Specialist on China they are in trouble. Interesting watch.. - No one feeding info to Xi Jinping...They are making horrific mistakes.
- US has to support Ukraine else Poland and other countries will be in direct conflict with Russia.
- Russia is so incompetent it can end in a nuclear war
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Post by milspec on Mar 30, 2023 12:33:33 GMT 10
China @#$%ed up big time (aka strategic @#$%up) with its wolf warrior diplomacy that became a catalyst for de-globalisation and significant arms build ups in the region. That departure from the "keep your capabilities quiet" policy of former leaders is likely to have set back Xi Jinping's plans, time will tell if that harms China's prosperity and makes Taiwan a harder nut to crack for him. Delay or failure may cost him the chairmanship and set a new course for China. That said, they are masters of the long game and Western ignorance and arrogance doesnt help the West to live with or adjust to China's development.
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Mar 30, 2023 14:24:32 GMT 10
Yep, everyone is tooling up to face the Chinese threat. Allied nuclear subs stationed here from this year until our own eventually get online, airfields expanded to take US strategic bombers, big recruitment drive for the ADF, Japan and Taiwan tooling up fast as well. The longer the Chinese play the long game, the harder it will be for them to achieve their goals in the region.
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