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August 24, 2009
Techport Australia in Osborne, South Australia, is the home base for the $6 billion Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) project and the construction base for the Royal Australian Navy's next generation of submarines. According to the Rann Government this AWD platform is being developed into Australia's largest naval shipbuilding hub. Establishing infrastructure that would support multiple users (a "common user" hub) to attract leading defence companies from around the world to Adelaide would help SA win more defence contracts and jobs.
One possibility that is being lobbied hard by the Rann Government is for the US Navy to use this Port Adelaide shipbuilding centre as a repair base for its warships. Currently, the US has repair bases in Japan and Singapore. So whip up the threat of the North Koreans missiles and nuclear warheads to show that South Australia is a safe and secure location.
The salt marsh of the nearby Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve doesn't stand a chance when the Rann Government eyes the possibilities of a future $100 billion in contracts. Economic development rules in the Defence State----there is no doubt about that. It's full seam ahead.
SA is hungry for defence industry work, and this is all about networking, the arms industry exploiting the maximising business opportunities and backroom policy making. Where is the ecocriticism of the development and growth of defence and sustainable defence industries by those dismissed by the Rann Government as “feral low-life”.
Surprisingly, there is little public presence from the neo-liberals. Their big concern about the dominating state and the road to serfdom, does not target a military-industrial complex in formation, despite the threat of this complex endangering our liberties and democratic processes.
The military-industrial complex is a tough nut to crack and it requires a non-stop diet of external threats to keep the capital accumulation process going, with its associated moral hazards and rent seeking. Even if you come at the criticism of this complex from the waste angle--due to "front loading," defense contractors overpromising results, underestimating costs, and profiting from continuous, costly modifications----you are still open to accusations of being "soft on terrorism" and appeasement.
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They say generals (and politicians I guess) are always getting ready to fight the last war. Destroyers, submarines, missiles ... they're all so 20th century.
I wonder which far-sighted countries are investing billions in finding ways to cripple or destroy an enemy's IT networks. Because if there's ever another serious conflict between developed countries, a country that can do that will win. All the ships and planes and missiles in the world will be useless if there's no communication and control network.