Big Al wrote:between the iraq and afganistan wars, troubles in the pacific and protecting our borders the Australian navy is stretched to capacity, no GC should rely on australia to come to their rescue particularly since our current government does not have a stomach for more conflict not to mention Australia excellent relations with Turkey. Just another pipe dream by GC's like the dream of russia, greece, france etc etc coming to their rescue.
Believe me when I tell you that Australia has the most advance surveillance and intelligence gathering networks in the world. Satellite surveillance covers all of Australia's coastline 24/7, and is supplemented with civil and military surveillance aircraft and UAVs. Illegal immigration, drug running is nonexistent, with airports and ports being the only "soft" spot.
The intelligence gathering infrastructure is second to none and covers the globe. Pine Gap is just one part of the intelligence link which hooks up with other agencies and nations from bases in North America (NORAD), Cyprus, Gibraltar, Middle East, Germany, UK, and SE Asia. The capability is extraordinary as virtually any mobile phone conversation, email, net based forum messages, radio transmission can be intercepted at a phenomenal rate and fed through computers where they are sifted and categorised accordingly using various methods. It is estimated that around 20,000,000 mobile phone conversations are intercepted daily. The information is processed at The Defence Signals Directorate in Canberra, which is Australia's most secretive and covert agencies. Other intelligence is handled by ASIO and ASIC (Australia's CIA equivalent).
Australia's navy is not needed to protect Australia's borders. It is planned that the RAN will be divided into 2 main battle groups. The Indian Ocean Fleet and The Pacific Fleet. Each battle group will comprise 1 aircraft carrier, 2 Air Warfare Destroyers, 4 Destroyers, 4 Frigates, 4 Corvettes, 3 Collins Class Submarines and 2 Supply ships.
For border security, Australia will rely on its surveillance capabilities, which are second to none and the Freemantle Class Patrol Fleet. The only issue which is of concern is the illegal Indonesian shark fin fishing fleet in the North, and the illegal Russian Patagonian Toothfish fleet around Heard Island within Australia's Antarctic territories.
The RAN is very easily able to deploy anywhere around the world to protect Australian interests which may also include drilling for oil within Cyprus' EEZ. Any Turkish warship can be dealt with quite easily by the RAN, not that it would be necessary because Turkey would not even dare to provoke a navy with so much fire power. The fact that Australian ships are also able to replenish in Cyprus, Crete, Malta, or Gibraltar is also advantageous.
The RAN is a small navy, but in terms of firepower it is one of the most capable in the world. The 2 Aircraft Carriers will most probably be equipped with F-18 Super Hornets until a suitable alternative is found.
You may also think that Australian relations with Turkey are excellent, but that is not entirely correct. Australian relations with Turkey can only be classified as good, but relations with Cyprus are excellent. Australia values Cyprus much more than it does Turkey, because the 2 British SBAs are a vital link in Australia's intelligence gathering capabilities that I mentioned earlier. For this very reason, one RAN Battle Group could very likely be permanently based in the East Mediterranean where they will more than likely cooperate with the US 6th Fleet, and NATO.