{"podcast":{"title":"Asia Pacific Defence Reporter","slug":"asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527","podcast_index_feed_id":6383527,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6461aa4dcd2b40001119e5eb","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/asia-pacific-defence-reporter","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6461aa4dcd2b40001119e5eb/1684198081627-7712deed25df6e09bfce1eb0c3174cad.jpeg","author":"Marilyn Butler","episode_count":148,"summary":"These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers have a right to know what’s going on. But it’s even worse than that with Defence sometimes putting out information that is misleading and in some cases plain wrong. We discuss the Defence Strategic Review and debunk the claims that it is some sort of radical and positive move. No it is not. We also have a few words about the outrageous decision to purchase the SURTASS towed array sonar via FMS and preview the ANAO report into the Hunter class frigate program. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T12:20:58.950355+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 138","slug":"episode-138","published_at":"2026-05-12T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527/episode-138","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527","url":"https://asiapacificdefencereporter.com","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6461aa4dcd2b40001119e5eb/e/6a016aa428bc864b8bcd7426/media.mp3","summary":"To follow on from last week, we start with some thoughts about Mogami frigates and why none of them will ever be built in Australia. The simple fact is that WA companies do not have the necessary experience - and building some landing craft for the Army will not get them there. Secondly, in an outrageous oversight during the bidding process, no one was asked by Defence to provide a single line of costings on how the ships will be constructed in Australia. Then some history of the Crimean War and the inability of British commander Lord Raglan to understand that the world had changed and that the enemy was different from what he was used to. This is appropriate remembering that just a fortnight ago, the retiring head of INDOPACOM USN Admiral Sam Paparo told Congress that the industrial base was not producing SSNs fast enough. All sorts of fissures are occurring in the Middle East with formerly close ally Saudi Arabia denying the US access to military bases for the short lived Project Freedom. One wonders if at some point the US and Israel might also experience a rupture. In our region, North Asia is nervously waiting for the Trump-Xi summit next week. No one knows what might happen - and this is the world we now inhabit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"To follow on from last week, we start with some thoughts about Mogami frigates and why none of them will ever be built in Australia. The simple fact is th…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1218,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527/episodes/episode-138/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/asia-pacific-defence-reporter-6383527/episode-138.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}