Some have mentioned the need to accelerate deliveries, acquire new capabilities etc. because of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. The fact is its already too late for that, we have what we have and nothing more.
Its too late for a fourth, fifth or sixth Hobart, too late for a new gen SSG or even evolved Collins, basically we have three Hobarts, eight ANZACs and six Collins, that's it. The only ships were are currently building are Capes and Arafura's, so the only quick easy option is 57mm, anti ship missiles, maybe a CIWS or a short range, non penetrating active air defense missile on the OPVs. fitting anything to the Capes is pointless because the weight of any installation alone will break the pathetic things.
Its probably impossible to quickly acquire F-35Bs to give the LHDs a combat capability.
Basically if we are dragged into a shooting war now we are screwed because to the decisions made over the last 25 to 30 years.
It would be nice to have three Flight IIA Burkes, and six stretched ANZAC based FFGs, that could have really made use of the upgrades developed for the ANZACs. As well as having a dozen or more Transfield Corvettes with a scaled down ASMD fit, supporting the eight ANZACs, Collins 7 and 8 would have been nice too. While we are at it other options put forward that didn't happen, i.e. the Kidds instead of the FFG upgrade, or maybe a pair of Cavours instead of the JCIs. Nice, but even though all were serious options at one point or another, they didn't happen.
We have what we have and that's it. No rushed program is going to make one bit of difference to the number or types of platforms we have in service now or for the next several years. As such there is zero point panic building, zero point cancelling or replacing current projects, it simply wont make any difference in the near term and may well make things worse in the mid term. What we need in the 2030s is the Hunters or something similar, if we panic change now we will only just be getting the less capable panic option at about the same time the Hunters were due anyway. Nothing by the way is going to fix the submarine gap.
Forget about specific platforms and look at what we could have done that would have set us us better. The obvious thing is continuous ship building. This is not a new idea, this is what Williamstown was privatised and modernised for. It doesn't matter what is being built, so long as it has the required bits of a combatant so workforce, design and building skills can be developed and maintained over successive generations, same for submarines. Maybe the ships will need to be ordered and built at less than optimal intervals, but overall it provides more flexibility.
Again, this didn't happen. It was proposed, planned, initiated but not continued. No doubt we would currently be better off if continuous build was maintained , but it wasn't.
What we need to do now is realise the nothing we change now will speed up delivery of major combatants and continue the current plan while ensuring we introduce flexibility going forward. If anything it may be worth taking a step back and re-evaluating the configuration of the hunters in regards to the changed threat level, maybe bite the bullet and go for a larger hull. Maybe we need to look at something warier than the Arafuras, but not panic changes, do a proper analysis and plan to acquire what we need.