Tanks, howitzers axed in major overhaul of defence spending priorities
The federal government will dramatically reduce their planned purchase of tanks and howitzers to free up money for other defence priorities, Nine Newspapers reports.
Instead it will seek to buy a HIMARS long-range rocket system, which is already being used to great effect by Ukraine against the Russian invaders.
Also being added to the shopping list are more amphibious manoeuvre vessels, drones, cyber defences and jet fighters.
The government wants to buy far fewer LAND 400 Phase 3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles. Australian Defence Force
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The plans are part of a review that is set to be released on Monday, calling for dramatic changes in spending priorities for the military.
The Albanese government is pointing the finger at the previous government for their budgeting.
In 2018, then-Defence Minister Marise Payne announced the acquisition of 450 LAND 400 Phase 3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles at an estimated cost of $27 billion.
The review asks to reduce that order to 129, a single battalion.
The review sought the purchase of HIMARS rockets as a defence priority. AP
The M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers currently in service have been used since the mid-1960s.
The review also recommends immediately cancelling the order for a second regiment of self-propelled howitzers.
Speaking to ABC, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the Defence Force was currently not ready to meet the challenges Australia would face in coming decades.
"The government has every belief that it is possible for us to meet these challenges, but we're not going to do it if we continue the waste and neglect that we saw over that preceding decade," she said.
"What we are talking about here is making sure that the Australian Defence Force is fit for purpose for the years ahead."
The centrepiece of a surge in new defence spending in coming years is the construction of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, with an expected price tag of $368 billion.
Australia will build a fleet of eight nuclear powered submarines based on the British Astute class attack vessel. Nine
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