Emergov,
that you started that list with Collins Class tells me all I need to know. How many of those are operational at the moment? How many hundreds of millions are still being poured into that black hole to salvage some sort of capability? Next you will be telling me that Sea Sprite was a winner. Poor old Navy are unfortunately a great example of ADF procurement failures. That they managed to make the LPA workable was only the result of political embarrassment and many millions of dollars. At least now they look likely to buy Sea Hawk so they will have something that works (as long as they don't go for a new avionics setup).
Were you involved with BH in the early days? Not to many of the operators or end users had a bad thing to say about it. In fact, it was to many of us, awe inspiring. The only thing that was a real problem was the lack of spares (underfunding). The cracking came much later and probably only as a result of our continued use of the external fuel tanks. But that it was perfect for it's role was never in doubt for one second.
Can't comment on the intro of Leopard except to say Leopard 2 is still rated the number 1 MBT in the world so we probably should have stuck with it. I guess the Germans are to tanks what the yanks are to helicopters.
As I see it, and as somebody has already stated on this thread, the only recent successes have been off-the-shelf. How many failures does it take, how much money will be wasted, and sadly how many lives will be lost (due to lack of capability) before the ADF and the government admit that we are too small to take developmental risk on large projects? We have been rated as one of the worst amongst developed countries for the capability delivered per defence dollar spent. Gosh. Really!!!
That you continue to defend this woeful record makes you, Sir, part of the problem. A problem can only be resolved after it first becomes recognised as being problem.