Latest news with #Hobart-class
Perth Now
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Australia's big move on North Korea
Australia has deployed a warship on a sanctions enforcement mission against North Korea. HMAS Sydney will patrol areas where the hermit state is suspected of illegal trading in violation of UN sanctions aimed at stopping it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Australia has deployed a warship on a sanctions enforcement mission against North Korea. Australian Defence Force Credit: Supplied 'Operation Argos supports the international community's goal of the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea,' Vice Admiral Justin Jones said in a statement. 'Australia also deploys maritime patrol aircraft to enforce Operation Argos, with a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon having deployed to Japan in April. 'Enforcing UNSC sanctions against North Korea is consistent with Australia's commitment to a rules-based global order.' It is the second time the HMAS Sydney – a Hobart-class guided missile destroyer – has taken part in Operation Argos, having supported sanctions enforcement efforts in September 2024 also. North Korea regularly tests intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are the primary delivery system for nuclear warheads. It has also sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia to aid the Kremlin's war efforts in Ukraine. North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un has said involving his country, which perpetually faces severe food shortages, was 'just' and 'falls within the sovereign rights of our republic'. Although, the US State Department said North Korea's participation in the conflict violated sanctions. Closer to home, North Korea has faced accusations of flooding the Indo-Pacific with illicit drugs and counterfeit cash as well as trafficking animals and humans.
South China Morning Post
06-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Sinking feeling: is Australia's navy ready for a Pacific conflict?
Australia 's navy has long played a crucial role in the defence of the island continent, whose 34,000km (21,000-mile) coastline is surrounded by the vast Pacific, Southern and Indian oceans and separated from Asia by a narrow strip of water. Advertisement But as the threat of conflict in the Asia-Pacific grows, the navy is confronting a 10-year capability gap. With an ageing fleet and dwindling firepower, it has become the focus of an increasingly acrimonious debate about how urgently Australia must prepare for war. 'Australia has no ability to wage a protracted conflict against a powerful adversary,' military historian John Storey told a recent Institute of Public Affairs seminar. 'We cannot replace equipment losses, manufacture our own munitions, we have no capability to ramp up our defence forces in a crisis. And we have minimal capabilities to operate independently of a powerful ally.' These concerns are amplified by a growing sense that time is running out. Amid mounting unease over the war clouds gathering in its neighbourhood and growing doubts about America's commitment to even its staunchest allies, Australia – and its navy in particular – is grievously unprepared should predictions of regional conflict prove prescient. Advertisement While the navy's personnel are highly trained, its fleet consists of only 10 surface combatants: three relatively new Hobart-class air defence destroyers and seven ageing multirole Anzac-class frigates.
