I like your thinking.
I look at it this way. we have a lot more leverage with the US than Europe
- Pine Gap - and others,
- Pre Positioned US gear,
- Multiple Annual Exercises here (such as going on in the Top End at the moment) and in the US (and a few other places as well),
- Multiple ship visits including carriers as we are seen as a friendly and safe port,
- we have heaps of US hardware already,
- spares are easy from the US or US Supply chains,
- US Gov't paperwork for export of military hardware is a breeze and probably most importantly of all,
- US hardware is used the the US military (who we always seem to operate with) and in most cases more than handles any requirements we have (that is before we throw up extra and superfluous things we want it to do) and has most of the bugs sorted out before we get it.
That's all I can think of in the few minutes I had. I am sure others will think of more.
What do we seriously do with the Europeans that can compete with that ?
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