Wirraway,
I know that some of the equipment in this UAV sounds impressive, but it's all off the shelf military gear.
For the aircraft - desigmed on basic aerodynamic principal which never change. For the donk - nothing we can't buy.
Navigation - it's a remotely controlled FMS coupled to a couple of IRS, and GPS. Whacko - nothing special.
Comms - Satellite and direct - once again nothing new.
Sensors - infra red, optical and synthetic apature radar - nothing new.
Wait - you guessed it - just a few years ago Australia was a world leader in development of synthetic apature radar.............
It's all pretty basic stuff resulting from integrating off the shelf stuff. If $1B was spent here developing same we just might even come up with more typically Australian innovation that would be beneficial, and maybe even develop overseas markets for AUS.
OICUR12 makes the point most aptly - Australia as a suckerfish to the US is probably required to make such purchases. Funny how this has happened during the FTA talks - I am sure it has been a bargaining chip.
Short term gain for long term pain - as one of my lecturers so aptly put it - selling the horse to buy a new saddle...........