Re: OU and New Caledonia - was RE: [GZG] NSL Geopolitical Composition

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Beth.Fulton@csiro.au>
> You can't seriously be saying that Autralia's military has been static
> in form for the last 40 years?

We've been
> hamstrung for funds forever, comes with such a small population, but
> that does not equate with can't come up with new effective large scale
> materials.

I think this comes close to answering your question. Both Austrialia and
NZ 
have little more than a cadre of trained troops. In WW2 both conuntries 
provided large numbers of skilled manpower but still needed the 
manufacturing capacity of Britain and more espeicially the US to equip
them.

We were the first in the world (to my
> knowledge) to use the high speed catamarans etc and just last week
they
> announced 2 new battalions and a service restructure.
The fact that raising 2600 new troops over the next 10 ? years and
buying 1 
more frigate are big news suggests that such changes in froce are rare.
NZ 
recently removed any strike aircraft from it's airforce and when the
navy 
wanted air attack drills volunteer pilots flying musem (WW2 era) jets
had to 
provide the Op force.

>> A visit to an Aussie supermarket is like a trip back 20 years.
>
> Compared to where?
Actually to NZ but then that might just be the fanatical only buy
something 
made in Australia. I have not been to Russia but if its the same as
other 
former warsaw pact countries then having any choice at all makes you
better 
off. In fact having any stock at all makes you better off.

It would take a fairly major and sustained conflict to make people sit
up 
and demand the kind of sacrifices that they would need to make to
support a 
larger military. You would need something like the scenario posed in "
Total 
War 2006". With several years of increasing armed conflict to make
people 
put down their Blackberry's and pick up a gun.

Besides the date for the liberation of NC is given as 2018 only 12 years

away so maybe the recent increase in military forces proposed by the
Howard 
government is all part of some cunning master plan. At least with the 
withdrawal of Britain from the EU Australia and NZ could go back to
their 
original purpose of providing cheap agricultural products to Britain.

Still could be some interesting near future ground, naval and air games,

using whatever adoptions people want.

John 

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