Firstly another interview with Defence Minister Richard Marles, from which we learned nothing useful. More about the RAAF $10 billion error in not considering the Embraer C390 as the replacement for the C-130J fleet. As several countries have discovered, the C390 is less expensive to acquire, costs less to support – and flies faster and further with more cargo than a C-130J. We quote extensively from the publicly available Dutch evaluation of the two aircraft, which conclusively concludes that the C390 is by far the better choice. South Korea has come to exactly the same conclusion. The RAAF didn’t even bother looking at it. The General Purpose Frigate situation keeps getting worse – and the government and the RAN are walking into a complete disaster. Finally, having no refund clause for our forthcoming $4.6 billion donation to the US submarine industrial base makes Australia’s AUKUS negotiating position immeasurably weaker.

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