How wrong can you be. The point I made is Australian governments...

How wrong can you be. The point I made is Australian governments don't support sovereign military manufacturers. "Not an inhouse game?" Despite having the smarts and capacity our locals are sent to the outhouse, they can't sustain a business without local support. And we don't spend enough on materiel from anywhere else either. EOS is a minnow which relies on export income to survive.

Austal would have no future if it wasn't for the US supporting our transition to steel ship building in Alabama. In fact ASB now makes more income from ships for the USN than we ever have for the RAN, none of which was in partnership with global primes. Yes ASB is making stuff for the US nuclear subs, but the Aus government had nothing to do with it. Locally Henderson shipyard is now the "preferred Australian supplier...of what exactly? Ships in future budgets about 3 electoral cycles away. Our governments are about announcements, not genuine funding. Our industry is constantly on tenterhooks waiting for scraps from OS militaries, while global primes and innovative startups are underwritten by real spending by governments with real programs.

Compared to the support the governments of the US, Korea, Israel, the UK, France and Germany give to their domestic industries all our governments show is a willingness to appear at photo opportunities, only to not follow up with the cash. Why aren't our drone makers working overtime to produce inventory for the ADF... any orders are years out. But the last big announcements from our government was to reduce The Hanwas order by two thirds, and the EOS share will probably mostly go to Elbit.

So all I can see is a litany of cut backs. Australia cancelled our space defence program...there went another EOS opportunity in a category which is emerging as the most critical. Look at our Australian missile program, which EOS in frustration walked away from after years of no money coming through. Look at our submarine program, after promises of home built diesel subs and Collins refits we get over a decade of inaction...but an announcement of nuclear subs decades away. All our governments do is fund the same bureaucrats to undertake another study and kick the can down the road to nowhere.