“I won't go into details of the nature of that drone for security reasons,” Pat Conroy told reporters in Canberra. "But I want to assure everyone in this country that we are spending lots of time working on drones."
Of 10 advanced sensor tech areas, China leads in seven and the US in three, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
As Australia hails the Japanese F-35s' arrival, it's also working with another partner, the US, on the much more somber task of investigating the deadly crash of a US Marine V-22.
The Defence Strategic Review called for a “whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach to guide the development of the space domain.” But, the Space Industry Association of Australia said, "leadership is missing on Australia’s national space priorities and ambitions."
"The big strategic goal is a Chinese-led international order, a Chinese century, where the US strategic primacy has ended. The US can basically move back to the Western Hemisphere and focus on itself, which is what he was saying," Malcom Davis, China expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said.
In a new report, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says China is outpacing the US in 37 out of 44 critical technology research areas.