AUSTRALIAN+NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE DIRECTORY 2025 www.defence.directory THE NATION BUILD 18 MUCH TO DO ON AUKUS The vision for AUKUS is certainly to be commended but there’s a lot of hard work ahead and challenges to surmount - from skills and supply to budgets, leadership, and bipartisanship. For Rohde & Schwarz there’s certainly potential for involvement in the domains of AI, Electromagnetic Warfare and Quantum Technology but I think as a nation we need to mature our understanding of how an industrial base works. As it stands, we haven’t seen much from Government yet on the how it intends to merge the industrial base of Australia with those of the US and the UK but I daresay the challenge for Australia as the junior partner will be massive. What is clear is that the defence industrial base in its current form is not at the level of preparedness or competency to be able to meet the needs of a symmetric/peer on peer kind of scenario which is very likely in the foreseeable future. We hear the rhetoric that we’re facing the greatest threat to our national sovereignty since World War Two. Yet have we got a budget comparative to what we needed during World War Two? The answer is clearly no. Industry needs to be convinced that the Government is serious about tackling the threats they speak of and having money available only five years from now is not going to help shore up that trust. To opt-in to the longer-term investment required, industry wants assurances from Government that they are committed to building the defence industrial base sooner rather than later, and that starts with honesty and engagement, not political showmanship. On that note, there needs to be bipartisanship and coherence on the national peril we face. Indeed, the moment for this has already passed as we’re already in a scenario of grey zone warfare and increasing tensions in the South China Sea. First and foremost, we must have bipartisan joint working groups established to tackle the problem with mature dialogue devoid of politics. I’d like to see the Defence organisation shift its focus and seek solutions with a broader approach – not simply turn to those it knows best and has dealt with in the past. This echo chamber only provides defence with a biased viewpoint when success demands that it should share its problems and seek answers from a wider sample of the defence industry community. We need strength in depth in the defence industry, not isolated channels. In keeping with this approach, I also think multinationals like our own should not be isolated from AUKUS. Australia is going to be under significant pressure within the alliance and we’re going to see a re-industrialisation of warfare taking place. It’s going to be about getting capability to the warfighter as quickly as possible, getting the job done and then sustaining that capability locally. So, the AUKUS framework really needs to include, as opposed to exclude, those parties that have demonstrated they can locally build and deliver the best industrial capability quickly, whether they’re Australia-based or have parent companies elsewhere. These relationships need to be nurtured and encouraged irrespective of borders, because when the lights go out, you don’t want to be left with only one or perhaps even no option - you want to have resilience within your supply chains. Global supply chains are great, but we’ve all witnessed that they break; they’re fragile, vulnerable and they’re brittle. Furthermore, it’s important to recognise that expertise in certain systems, for example EW systems, isn’t concentrated in the US, the UK or Australia and to maintain or establish a position for the ADF at the leading edge in this field will require working relationships with organisations from around the world, including Germany. So, I’d also be asking the Government to consider what it might do to allow cross-border multinational teams operate more effectively to deliver locally produced capability. At Rohde & Schwarz Australia we’ll continue to fight our corner as a subsidiary of a foreign company, proud of the production, integration capability, and systems solutions business we’ve built over our more than 40 years here. With appropriate tech transfer arrangements in place, there’s no reason why companies like our own can’t do as good if not better at delivering the right capability quickly. Despite the ebbs and flows of defence spending, the varying policies of opposing sides of Government, and the nervousness surrounding Australia’s commitment to meet the current rhetoric around the threat we’re facing, Rohde & Schwarz remains steadfast in its resolve to build and sustain capability here. Gareth Evans Managing Director Rohde & Schwarz Australia
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