Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Feb 7
th, 2024 at 10:27am:
Frank wrote on Dec 14
th, 2023 at 8:44am:
The US Navy has asked Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea as part of an expanded international task force, in response to growing attacks on shipping by Iran-backed militia that are threatening vital global sea lanes.
The move, under consideration by the Albanese government, would mark a major escalation in Australia’s response to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East and reflect fears the conflict could become a region-wide war.
Any Australian warship sent to the Red Sea in this crisis would be entering a hot war zone where it could easily find itself fired upon and forced to fire back amid a volatile and fast-changing security situation.
... and with no drone defence apart from the close-in defence system .... which doesn't hit bombs dropped from drones... though existing systems could take out drones.... but under what rules?
Down 'em All! Let God Sort 'Em Out!! 'Allied' drones would have an IFF system.
Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie has expressed his disappointment in the Albanese government for not sending a Royal Australian Naval vessel to the Red Sea at the request of the United States in December.
Mr Hastie said America and its allies "have no choice" to combat the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea as a significant portion of global trade passes through the region and the disruption will cost Australians "a lot of money".
He said the Labor government took a "weak position" not to join the US, UK, France and Italy who are "doing the hard work" to keep the trade routes operational.
Mr Hastie illustrated the poignancy of the situation in simple terms; 12 per cent of global trade passes through the Gate of Tears into the Red Sea while up to 29 ships have been targeted by the Iran-backed militant group with 13 sustaining direct hits.
"Just today, I looked at the prices of moving a 40-foot shipping container from northern Europe to the Far East. They've gone up 147% in the last month," Mr Hastie said.
Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond said Mr Albanese's decision not to send a warship to the region to combat the Iran-backed Houthi rebels was not a question of capability, but a "decision for government".
"This was a question of the government deciding where it wanted to focus its surface combatant force at the moment," Vice Admiral Hammond said.
The recent Houthi tactics of deploying drones such as the Shahid 136, which has a range of 2.5 kilometres and the ability to carry a 50-kilogram warhead, prompted him review and assure the Navy’s own capabilities.
"I've got complete confidence in our radar and weapons systems on our surface combatant force," he said.
Mr Hastie said the significant costs to redirect and reroute the ships, and the financial complexity of the situation, will end up affecting Australians.
"The Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran, a lot of the equipment and missiles that they're using, the drones, particularly Iranian - the US and its allies have no choice but to strike against these rebels to keep these ships moving," he said.
"Because the costs are significant, the financial complexity, the operational complexity of rerouting these ships from the Red Sea down around the Cape of Good Hope is going to cost Australian mums and dads and small businesses a lot of money if we don't sort this out."
Mr Hastie said under the Labor government Australia is a “fair-weather friend”.
"Over the last 30 years, we've sent 57 Royal Australian naval vessels to the Middle East or waters around the Middle East to fight against piracy and terror," Mr Hastie said.
"I admire the Chief of Navy and his courage in speaking up for the Navy. He said that they could have done it. So this is a political decision.
"And the Albanese government has still not explained why they've taken the weak decision and not supported the US, the French, the British, the Italians and other nations who are doing the hard work to keep those shipping, trade routes open."
The Houthi rebels say the attacks in the Red Sea are in support of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said recently the group will "seek to escalate more and more if the barbaric and brutal aggression against Gaza does not stop".
It comes as shipping vessel MV Bahijah, containing almost 17,000 sheep bound for Israel, remains in limbo in Fremantle, Western Australia, amid the ongoing security issues involving indiscriminate Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
If the export permit is refused again, the animals will be slaughtered.
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