Australia begins 'major restructuring' of its military

ANKARA

The Australian government on Thursday announced a major restructuring of its military to make it more prepared for combat in the region.

According to a statement by the Defense Ministry, troops and equipment will be moved to northern Australia while moving from generalist combat brigades to specialist combat brigades.

The changes were announced following the recommendations of the Defense Strategic Review, to shift the defense force with a broad range of capabilities to a much more focused force directed at maintaining peace and security in the region.

“To achieve this, the Albanese government is announcing key changes to the army’s units and formations as well as changes to equipment locations. These changes will support the army to lift its capabilities, preparedness, and projection,” it said.

Under the new formations, a light combat brigade will be based at Darwin, while the 3rd Brigade based in Townsville will be an armored combat brigade and the 7th Brigade in Brisbane will be a motorized unit.

The 10th Brigade, based in Adelaide, will be raised as a fire brigade.

However, the ministry said to minimize the impact of the latest changes on soldiers and their families, the army will not move personnel outside of the normal posting cycles.

The changes will also not affect the army presence in Western Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles said the changes were "hard decisions" but necessary to build the army Australia needs.

“This will mean the army has a concentration of people and capabilities in Australia’s north, making it easier to deploy for training, major exercises or to support our partners and allies in the region,” he said.

Last week, the Australian government also commissioned an "independent review" of its intelligence agencies to check the spy agencies’ ability to serve the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the review will ensure that Australia’s intelligence agencies remain well-placed to serve the country’s national interest.

In July this year, Australia signed an over A$1 billion ($664.5 million) agreement with Germany to build Boxer Heavy Weapon Carriers for Berlin.

On Sept. 15, 2021, Australia, the US and UK announced the formation of AUKUS, a trilateral security treaty for the Indo-Pacific region. It is primarily intended for China, which is becoming more assertive in the region.

In March this year, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating slammed Anthony Albanese's government for a tripartite deal with Washington and London and claimed the approach behind the AUKUS deal was to have the US supply nuclear submarines for deep and joint operations against China.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid