Or, a modest approach.
1 full RAR each optimized for: Armor, amphibious, special warfare and air mobile, the rest are as reserve or light infentry
That's what's happening now from what I gather, 1 on call Battalion will become the main focus point of the ARG and will rotate 2x Company thru the ARE role on Choules or the LHD for 12 months every 12 months the role revert to another Battalion.
3 AWD +9 ANZAC replacement + 12 corvette/OPV +12 SSK and 3 LHD with jet facilities. So we can always have a task group of 1AWD+3FFG +4DE + 1LHD as troop carrier or light carrier ready.
Ship building valley of death can be mitigated by not moving up the Anzac replacement but by an additional 3x flight II Hobart AWD, which gives plenty of time to get the ASW Frigates right.
At the moment to put an entire ARG to sea will require all our Amphiboius shipping 2x Canberra's and Choules, we saw the end result of the kanimbla class of 2 ships worked hard along with Tobruk (still going) we don't want to see a repeat of that also the problem with Choules and her transformer set taking the ship off line for a considerable amount of time leaves the capability at the whim of maintenance scheduling and unexpected mechanical breakdowns.
With 4x Canberra's will eliminate that to a degree with 1x operational 1x working up the 3rd surge capability and the 4th for intensive maintenance program *leaving Choules(need another 2 with all 3 in a RFA arragement along with the oilers 4x)for her intended role of Strategic sealift, the uplift of this is that it too will give Williamstown more work with an additional 2 structures to build and even more if we do a similar way of building 2x ASW carriers(18x F35B &6x MH60R) which would also give the other options for either long range strike fleet defence and on call CAS.*
And we still have the OPV/ Anzac replacement to build yet, in years to come with an expanded tech port we could in theory have the ability to build the replacements for the LHD and ASW carriers plus the oilers etc
And yes, get RAAF 1 Sq (25+) of F-35B and a full sq (12) of C-17 as well.*
Agree on the C17, but not on the RAAF F35B 54x F35B(best case 36x minimum) with Squadrons size of 18x aircraft which leaves a Squadron to rotate on the ASW carrier x2.
that also leaves us with an additional buy of 18x MH60R for the FAA, expand the chinook fleet with 4 per LHD using 2x airframes for large troop movements along with Blackhawk plus the Battlehawks as overwatch and escort 3rd and 4th CH47 can be used to ferry bulk or heavy supplies if needed.
So when shit hit the fan, we can always deploy a complete and capable task force where ever we need.
History has shown us that the ADF has had two significant eras of intensive operational activity since the ending of WWII, 1950-1973 we had Korea-Malaysia -Borneo & Vietnam, and in this time also keeping our presence in Singapore with the Far East Fleet and aircraft for RAAF Butterworth as well as the collective defence of Australia.
The other period 1990 till the present, we had the 1st gulf war-Cambodia -Somalia - Rwanda - East Timor - Afghanistan -Iraq - Solomons Island( with a rotation of A-Resevre on full time duty) as well as countless minor blue helment operations for the UN from 1947 to the present. All the while also our commitments to domestic and overseas exercise's.
Army is stretched there is no doubting that and the recent operational tempo of 6mths deployments and having to make numerous regular deployments must be wearing thin and having an adverse complication to the family involved and overall retention of ADF members across the board.
We have yet to see where the current situation evolves (daesh) as well as the implication's of of an ARG. We are taking the baby steps in setting up an ARG this will take many years to develop if the current tempo remains, for this reason learned in the next few years will be critical and I believe a separate marine force is the most likely outcome to relive pressure from Army.