Canberra
Australia on Monday released the public version of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) that has proposed a strategy of greater self-sufficiency combined with stronger relationships with its allies and key powers in the region, including Japan and India.
The country plans to prioritise its long-range precision strike capability, domestic production of guided weapons, and diplomacy, in its biggest defence shake-up since World War II.
The review said Australia is facing a radically different strategic environment, including a military build-up by China, which is the largest and most ambitious of any country since the end of the (World War II).
We commissioned the Defence Strategic Review to make sure Australia is more secure. Today, we’ve released our response to the review. It shows how determined we are to keep Australians safe. Because national security is every government’s most solemn responsibility, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a tweet.
Commissioned in the first 100 days of Government, the Review sets the agenda for ambitious, but necessary, reform to Australia’s Defence posture and structure.
The review said the United States is no longer the unipolar leader of the Indo-Pacific, intense competition between the US and China is defining the region, and that this competition has potential for conflict.
The review called for the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines through AUKUS (comprising of Australia, UK and US); develop the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and manufacture munitions in Australia.
