AUSTRALIAN+NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE DIRECTORY 2026 www.defence.directory 26 MINISTERIAL FOREWORD There is no greater responsibility for the Albanese Government than keeping Australians safe. That is why the Government is committed to deploying all elements of national power to protect our nation’s security, interests and way of life. The 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR) highlighted the challenging strategic environment Australia faces. It also reaffirmed that Australia no longer enjoys the benefit of a 10-year window of strategic warning time for conflict. As recommended by the DSR, the Government has committed to a biennial National Defence Strategy cycle. This is designed to ensure Defence policy, strategy, capability and planning keep pace with the rapidly evolving strategic environment, respond to Australia’s national security priorities and provide clarity to defence industry. The National Defence Strategy set out the Government’s strategic framework to guide the significant and urgent change required to transform Defence’s force posture, force structure, acquisition, recruitment and international engagement. The 2024 National Defence Strategy provides the blueprint to deliver the ambitious transformation of the Australian Defence Force from a balanced force to an integrated, focused force that will be positioned to safeguard Australia’s security and contribute to regional peace and prosperity for decades to come. We have reset our defence capability priorities to deliver this fundamental change that has already seen the rebuild of the Integrated Investment Program (IIP). Defence industry is essential to delivering this vision – supporting our national security through the development, delivery and sustainment of capabilities that Defence relies on. Defence industry is our critical partner in providing the deterrence our strategic circumstances require. In rebuilding the IIP, the Government has made decisions to prioritise and fund the acquisition of key capabilities to bolster Australia’s deterrence capabilities. This reprioritisation has enabled us to accelerate new, immediate and longer-term priority projects and capabilities. The IIP is the Government’s roadmap to deliver a stronger sovereign defence industrial base that is more resilient and better able to meet the needs of the Australian Defence Force at the pace it is needed. To deliver the IIP, we have increased Defence’s budget by $57.6 billion over the next decade. This is the largest peacetime increase in defence spending since the Second World War, with $10.6 billion of that increase to be seen within the next four years. The Defence Innovation, Science and Technology Strategy, Accelerating Asymmetric Advantage, outlines how our ability to deliver advanced defence capabilities is underpinned by partnerships with industry, to leverage Australia’s scientific capability and contribute to the Strategy of Denial. The introduction of the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) was the most significant reshaping of defence innovation in decades. With backing of up to $3.8 billion dollars over the coming decade, it will deliver vital capabilities to Defence but importantly gives industry partners a seat at the problem-solving table. ASCA is about putting our defence force at the cutting edge of military technology and asymmetric military developments. Capability delivery is about making capability acquisition decisions faster, ensuring Defence delivers new capabilities while improving procurement and project delivery processes. Since coming to office, the Albanese Government has sped up major defence capability acquisitions. We have brought forward initial delivery dates for priority projects and shortened their overall time to completion. After inheriting close to the oldest naval surface fleet since the Second World War, the Government is more than doubling the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of warships. The Government has marked a major milestone in its investment in a larger, more lethal Navy with the upgraded Mogami-class stealth frigate identified as the preferred platform for the Royal Australian Navy’s future fleet of general-purpose frigates, to progress to the next stage of the procurement process. This decision was made months ahead of schedule. The Government’s response to the Independent Analysis of Navy’s Surface Combatant Fleet outlined that the first three general-purpose frigates would be built offshore. This accelerated program will see the first three frigates built in Japan – with the first scheduled to be delivered to Australia in 2029 and operational in 2030. This announcement is another example of the Australian Government’s focus on investing in the capabilities we need now and into the future, to meet Australia’s strategic circumstances. Under the Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement Pilot Program, 18 landing Craft Medium vessels and, subject to Government approval and commercial negotiations, eight Landing Craft Heavy vessels will be built at Henderson, as part of Army’s new littoral fleet. Together the new Landing Craft Medium and Landing Craft Heavy will form the core of Army’s Littoral Manoeuvre capability; able to carry combat capabilities such as long-range fires, Redback infantry fighting vehicles, tanks and other combat units and supplies. Establishing the littoral manoeuvre capability is a vital step in the restructure and re-posture of the Australian Army to support a strategy of denial, by deploying and sustaining modernised land forces with long-range land and maritime strike capabilities. Delivery of new Infantry Fighting Vehicles for the Army has also been accelerated, with the first vehicles reaching units in 2027, some two years before they were originally expected to arrive. All 129 new Infantry Fighting Vehicles will be delivered by the time the first vehicle would have been delivered under the plans in place when we came to office. The Government is delivering the funding, making the decisions, and accelerating the delivery of capabilities to ensure the Australian Defence Force can keep Australians safe and our region secure. This includes investing up to $2.12 billion in additional stocks of advanced medium-range missiles to strengthen the ADF’s air defence and aerial strike capability.
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