Australian defence official warns Washington audience about military tech innovation gap with China, Russia

Deputy defence secretary used occasion to call for Washington to clear regulatory impediments to the full implementation of the Aukus alliance

‘Russia and China are outpacing the US and its allies’ in some areas of military technology, he said

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the Aukus partnership after a trilateral meeting in San Diego, California, on Mar. 13, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:23am, 6 Mar 2024Updated: 9:38am, 6 Mar 2024

Australia and the US must bolster their industrial cooperation to be better prepared to face evolving threats in the Indo-Pacific region, a high-ranking Australian defence official said on Monday.

Hugh Jeffrey, Australia’s Deputy Defence Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Industry, commended his US counterparts for their assessment that the military-industrial architecture developed during the Cold War is not adequate for today’s challenges.

Speaking in a livestream from Canberra in an event hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, he welcomed the Biden administration’s efforts to engage with Canberra to address risks in the region and used the occasion to call for Washington to clear regulatory impediments to the full implementation of the Aukus alliance.

“Russia and China are outpacing the US and its allies” in some areas of military innovation, Jeffrey said. “Our ability to co-innovate, co-invest, and co-produce [defence technology] today will determine who wins the battle for military advantage tomorrow.

“My view is that the consensus has emerged on both sides of the Pacific on this issue, that we do need to change things up,” Jeffrey said, adding that Aukus will play a pivotal role.

Announced in 2021, the alliance will give the Australian defence industry the capacity to build nuclear submarines and replace its diesel-powered vessels. The strategy is widely seen as an attempt to contain the advances of the Chinese navy in the region, especially in the South China Sea.

In December, the US Congress passed the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), which, among other things, provides support for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine programme and includes both countries in the US Defence Production Act, which regulates the allocation of funds for the American military industry.