A former US admiral, who has previously chaired Australia's expert shipbuilding advisory panel, has been handed a new job leading another review of the navy's warship fleet to ensure it "complements" the new AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines.
Retired US Vice Admiral William H Hilarides will conduct the fresh analysis with Australia's former finance secretary Rosemary Huxtable, and former Australian fleet commander, retired Vice-Admiral Stuart Mayer.
The latest study is a recommendation from the Defence Strategic Review (DSR), with the Albanese government insisting the "independent" work will be "short and sharp" and its findings delivered before the end of the year.
Admiral Hilarides, who left the US Navy in 2016, has already received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting contracts from the Australian Defence Department through a private American advisory company.
The Albanese government has now agreed to a key DSR recommendation that "an independent analysis of Navy's surface combatant fleet capability should be conducted in Q3 2023".
According to the DSR the study of the navy's current and planned future warship fleet aims to "ensure its size, structure and composition complement the capabilities provided by the forthcoming conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines".
"The analysis must assess: The capability requirements to meet our current strategic circumstances as outlined in the review, as well as the cost, schedule, risks and the continuous shipbuilding potential of each option".
Defence Minister Richard Marles argued the government accepted the recommendation because there was "merit in having a short condition check at this moment in time about the future shape of our surface fleet".
"The surface fleet, as it's currently constructed, was determined at a time when Australia was still pursuing a diesel electric powered submarine," Mr Marles said.
"Now that we are going to be operating a nuclear-powered submarine, that is a dramatically different capability, and it obviously has some implication in terms of the overall structure of the Navy, not only as we think about the next decade, but as we think about the next three decades."
"The Defence Strategic Review has observed that navies around the world are moving in the direction, to put it kind of crudely, of having a larger number of smaller vessels," he added.
The Defence Minister insists current work on constructing Australia's Hunter class frigates will continue without any disruption, with steel due to be cut on the first of the large warships in Adelaide next month.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy told the ABC that the former Admiral was the right person to lead the review.
"The navies of our two countries already work very closely together," Mr Conroy said.
"William Hilarides has had a long association with Australia. He's chair of our naval shipbuilding advisory panel, that's already providing advice on our naval acquisitions."
Soldiers assured their roles remain significant
Meanwhile the Chief of Army has warned his soldiers they will need to adapt quickly to emerging technologies, following the release of the Defence Strategic Review which drastically cuts armoured vehicles and mobile artillery.
More than any other service, the army will undergo major changes and be re-equipped to operate missile technology, which is expected to increase in range out to several hundreds of kilometres.
In a message recorded following the DSR release, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart has assured army members they will still be providing a significant but very different role in the future.
"There will be a significantly smaller but no less capable combined arms fighting system," General Stuart said in a video posted online.
"We'll accelerate delivery of our long-range fires and littoral manoeuvre capabilities. Our formations will become more specialised and we'll increase the use of robotics and quantum technology."
"There will also be changes to the scale and scope of our capabilities, the sequence and pace of delivery, how we're organised, how we train and the resources that will be available to us — things will be different and along with the opportunities there will be some challenges."
Japanese and US Defence officials have welcomed the review, with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calling it a demonstration of "Australia's commitment to being at the forefront of incorporating new capabilities … as well as to our Unbreakable Alliance, which has never been stronger".
