Australian Fast UAV Carrier with Onboard Additive Manufacturing of Aircraft

Fast UAV Carrier.
Artists impression by
Tom Worthington CC-BY 2021

The Australian Government is reported to be considering investing billions of dollars in a complex guided weapons manufacturing  sovereign capability. However, just having a local subsidiary of an offshore company build an imported product under licence is not a real sovereign capability (as was shown by billions wasted on subsidizing foreign car companies to manufacture in Australia).

Any scheme has to have a strong investment in local capability. I suggest Australia should invest in new technological capabilities, for example, being able to rapidly manufacture custom guided weapons and UAVs for a particular mission. This could include the capability to do this aboard ship and on land at forward bases.

As an example, imagine a miniature aircraft carrier build by one of Australia's multi-hull fast ferry shipyards, with a flight deck for launching UAVs and a factory below to 3D print the jet engines, fuselages and avionics for them. Rather than a commander to have to wait weeks, or years for new weapons to be delivered, they would be manufactured on-board in a few hours, custom designed for the next mission.

Blockchain for Military Operations

Last week I had a call from the Australian Financial Review newspaper asking about blockchain for military operations. As noted in the article I could see some application, but was a little skeptical. Later I found a paper on it by Verma, Desai, Preece and Taylor (2017), but remain skeptical.

References

Abernethy, M. (2017, Jul 14) Blockchain becoming an integral part of some defence technology. AFR. URL http://www.afr.com/news/special-reports/cyber-security/blockchain-becoming-an-integral-part-of-some-defence-technology-20170713-gxaipa

Verma, D., Desai, N., Preece, A., & Taylor, I. (2017, May). A blockchain based architecture for asset management in coalition operations. In SPIE Defense+ Security (pp. 101900Y-101900Y). International Society for Optics and Photonics. Retrieved from https://allquantor.at/blockchainbib/pdf/verma2017blockchain.pdf

Australian All Terrain Lightweight Electric Military Vehicles

While at UNSW Canberra today to borrow some library books, I noticed a display of electric and autonomous military vehicles. It is not that unusual as this is also the campus of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). One product was the Tomcar Military spec v4, with the electric drive option. This looks like a cross between a dune buggy and a golf cart and is made by the Australian company Tomcar.

The electric version is very quiet, which is useful for military operations. But I suggest it needs a synthetic engine noise which can be switched on to make it safer for everyday use, to warn pedestrians.

These type of military buggies, usuals with conventional diesel engines, are popular with the military, where their usual vehicles have become too big to be transported to the battlefield, to complex to be maintained and too expensive to procure.

Tomcar might consider making an articulated, or double articulated version. This would have the electric vehicle at the front, with a trailer for the crew. It would be narrow enough to be transported in a helicopters or small military transport aircraft. As the trailer would have no front wheels, it would be more resistant to mine blasts.