Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-vast-distances-will-drive-shift-uncrewed-defence-systems-officials-2025-03-26/
Australian officials announced on March 26 that their military will rely more on autonomous systems without crews due to its vast geography. Its air force is working with Boeing to develop a new autonomous aircraft called the “Ghost Bat”. Chief of Air Force Stephen Chappell said they will test the Ghost Bat this year to see its capabilities and payloads before recommending it to the government. This comes after a statement by Ninh Dong, chief of air and maritime at Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group, where he said the country has 2-3 million square kilometers of northern ocean to cover and that they need to find innovations to overcome the disadvantage. He also announced that the country has made the development of hypersonic missiles a priority, believing that holding enemies away from the shores would give the country more time to make a decision about the threat. The director of combat futures at Air Force Headquarters, Allan Hagstrom, is worried about the expenses of developing this aircraft and feels a need to integrate this with cheaper technology. He also is against fully-autonomous aircraft and wishes to find an optimal solution.
Autonomous aircraft sound very interesting. After looking at some images, I can’t say I’m a fan of how they look, but it really doesn’t matter as long as they’re functional. It seems like a good decision to make considering their geographic position. All that ocean plus their overseas territories is a lot of ground to cover and it’s always best to keep the majority of your military close to home so as to not stretch yourself thin. Looks like Australia is hopping on the hypersonic missile train. Looking at the countries that claim to have them developed or in development, it seems like they were bound to get on board soon. I agree with Hagstrom, this sounds ridiculously expensive, but they did recently increase their defense budget, so it looks like this might’ve been one of the reasons why.
This relates to class because Australia is trying to overcome its geography and utilizing the theory of possibilism, which states that humans are not merely passive organisms who must conform to their geography, but can overcome their geography and make anything possible. The country also saw a threat to their national security, that being their under-protected border, and is attempting to increase security by making these aircraft.