http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1062588.htm
Defence spends up big on tanks
Wednesday, 10 March , 2004 08:10:00
Reporter: Nick Grimm
TONY EASTLEY: At just under ten million dollars each, Australia is
about to get some new tanks. And at just under ten million each
they're not cheap. But the M1A1 ABRAMS tanks are big and far more
powerful than the weapons Australia currently has. The ABRAMS tanks
were used widely in the invasion of Iraq last year.
But despite the tanks' undisputed superiority in that theatre of
war, defence experts here in Australia are worried that the Federal
Government could get more bang for its defence buck by spending the
money elsewhere.
Nick Grimm reports.
NICK GRIMM: They might have only been facing the dilapidated
military of Saddam Hussein, but when columns of American M1-AI
Abrams tanks raced across the deserts of Iraq on their way to
Baghdad last year they cast a powerful image around the world of US
military might.
According to Aldo Borgu, from the Australian Strategic Policy
Institute, it was a sight that stopped Australian defence planners
in their tracks, and persuaded them that Australia needed that kind
of war machine.
ALDO BORGU: I'd be very surprised if that wasn't the case and
certainly, you know, there really doesn't seem to be any other
reason other than that.
NICK GRIMM: The Abrams tanks Australia is to buy are second-hand
built eleven years ago but are being re-manufactured with their
odometers set back to zero. In theory they should be as good as
new.
Aldo Borgu.
ALDO BORGU: Certainly, I mean, there's no doubt that we need tanks.
I mean, the fact is that basically, I think, in modern warfare
demonstrated that infantry need the protection of tanks.
My question is what sort of relative priority of actually buying
the tanks now, when they weren't so much of a priority a few years
ago, but also, you know, what are we actually sacrificing in
cutting in our infantry battalions to actually fund those
tanks?
NICK GRIMM: Australia is to purchase 59 of the tanks to replace the
army's 30-year-old fleet of German-built Leopard tanks, which now
lack the heavy armour required to protect soldiers against modern
armour-piercing weapons.
But some experts argue the Abrams, which weigh in at 67 tonnes, are
heavy gas guzzlers. On the plus side, though, they're fast, with a
top spend of around 70 kilometres an hour, but it has been said
that many of the Abrams tanks had their progress stalled during the
race to Baghdad when they got too far ahead of supply lines and ran
out of fuel.
So there has been debate about whether Australia would be better
buying lighter, more fuel-efficient tanks.
Yet Aldo Borgu is more concerned about whether the defence budget
could be more effectively spent elsewhere.
ALDO BORGU: Certainly I think the major issue is what are we
actually going to be using these tanks for? Now obviously the
Government's made its decision based on increased interoperability
with the United States, but the concern that I'd have is the
primary reason we're getting these tanks is that we're going to be
able to more participate in operations like Iraq and Korea outside
of our region, and I just don't think that's the real priority we
should be looking at.
NICK GRIMM: In what way would it close down the Australian
military's options?
ALDO BORGU: Well, I think you've got to look at how we're actually
funding the acquisition of the tanks. The fact is they weren't in
the government's defence plan previously, so something had to give,
and the indications are that projects to increase the combat
capabilities of our infantry battalions have been cut for some 40
per cent to fund this purchase.
Now, what that means is the infantry aren't going to have a lot of
heavy weapons that they were going to have before, so it makes it
more likely that you're going to have to use the tanks to support
the infantry.
TONY EASTLEY: Aldo Borgu is from the Australian Strategic Policy
Institute. He was speaking there with Nick Grimm.
This is a transcript from AM. The program is broadcast around
Australia at 08:00 on ABC Local Radio
