As we enter the 21st century we can see that countries all over the world spend large amounts of money on their defence. The United States of America alone spends around $450 billion annually on defence (pg 49, Defence Review 2000). This essay examines the three Australian armed forces, namely the navy, the air force and the military to see what improvements they require, in order to protect themselves in the new century. It also discusses countries that could be potential threats to it in the future and steps required to be taken by the Australian government to overcome these threats.
             The Australian maritime forces include submarines, aircraft, surface ships and their helicopters. In all there are nine major warships, out of which seven ships are usually available for operations and two of them are generally in maintenance on a circulation basis (Pg 40, Defence Review 2000). These ships have very limited defences against the new anti-ship missiles that have been acquired in neighbouring countries such as China and Japan, the defensive capabilities on these ships were designed in the late 80's and are no longer very effective against modern technologies (Pg 40,Defence Review 2000). Australian ships currently do not have the ability to shoot down attacking aircraft at long distances (Pg 40, Defence Review 2000). To prevent vulnerability from enemy aircraft this ability is a necessity for an island nation such as Australia. However this capability is expensive and the current defence budget cannot afford it. Another important concern is the older guided missile frigates, which reach the end of their lives around 2013 (Pg 40, Defence Review 2000). An integral component of the navy is its submarine fleet, its capabilities are now depleted due to problems in the new Collins class boats, only one of the old Oberon submarines is still in service (Pg 40, Defence Review 2000). The Collins class submarines were especially designed and ...