Free Republic

A compromised political elite is responding to a virus likely juiced up in a Chinese bioweapons lab by adopting scientifically unprecedented, Communist-style social controls. When Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called last year for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, China retaliated with tariffs. Domestically, a cohort of Beijing-friendly former ambassadors, foreign and defense ministers, and state premiers dutifully reminded the public that China’s status as Australia’s biggest trading partner makes antagonizing the regime a risky business. Beijing sycophants have recycled versions of this talking point for years, rationalizing China’s contempt for Western universal values, territorial aggrandizement, repression of...

ARMED with AGM-114 Hellfire anti-armour missiles, free-flight rockets, and 30mm automatic cannon, the army’s $40 million Tiger helicopters are ready for combat. And they were put through their paces yesterday as part of the Defence Force’s annual Exercise Chong Ju at Puckapunyal Army Base, with The Daily Telegraph given exclusive behind-the-scenes access. The Tiger’s state-of-the-art cannon can engage ground or air targets at a rate of 750 rounds per minute at a range of 1.5km. The choppers rockets are practising out of the Puckapunyal Army base in Victoria. Picture Craig Greenhill Using helmet-mounted sight displays, pilots only have to look...

THREE Australian soldiers were almost killed when their armoured vehicle was blasted by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Two other Diggers also were wounded in the devastating blast near the main Australian base at Tarin Kowt. The infantry soldiers from the 1st Mentoring Task Force were blown up during a routine patrol as summer approaches and the "killing season" begins in the war against the Taliban. The three critically wounded soldiers were treated by combat medics and flown by helicopter to a nearby Australian-US medical centre on Tuesday night.

A key Taliban insurgent commander has been captured by coalition forces in Afghanistan, the Defence department says. The commander was captured recently in a planned operation led by the Afghan National Security Forces and Australia's Special Operations Task Group. During the operation, leader and improvised explosive device coordinator Mullah Janan Andewahl was captured in the Mirabad Valley, located in the Oruzgan Province. He had been responsible for directing attacks and roadside bombings against Afghan civilians, military and ISAF assistance forces.

FORTY-TWO years after the Battle of Long Tan, Harry Smith's long campaign for due recognition for his men is over. Mr Smith and two fellow officers will get top gallantry awards for the 100-odd men of D Company 6 RAR who on August 18, 1966, fought against 1500 North Vietnamese regular troops and Viet Cong guerillas. This follows approval by the Rudd Government of the main recommendations of an independent review, by a panel of retired senior army officers, of the battle regarded as a classic study in the use of combined arms to defeat a superior enemy. It restores...

BLACK Hawk 221 was hovering only metres above the deck of HMAS Kanimbla, a few seconds from landing, when it became clear something was wrong. * Video: Black Hawk crash The helicopter's engines began screaming, its rotors seemed to droop, and the pilots were heard to swear. "It was either 'Oh shit' or 'Oh f..k, then I heard them start talking to each other really quickly and I could tell they were trying to sort it out," one of the Black Hawk's crew yesterday told the board of inquiry into last November's crash off Fiji, which claimed the lives of...

THE bagpipes that played Amazing Grace had just fallen silent when Black Hawk pilot Mark Bingley's widow, Melissa, stopped following his flag-draped coffin, clutched her baby son tight and waited at the top of the stairs outside the cathedral in which his funeral had just been held. She looked up to the sky and broke down as four Black Hawks flying in formation swept into view, a tribute to a soldier, husband and father who was described yesterday as a "perfectionist with a gift for flying". About 400 people filled StJames Cathedral in Townsville, northern Queensland, to say goodbye to...

THE Army has been brought in to help fight a massive Victorian bushfire as the state braces for one of the worst fire weekends in the state's history. Army fuel tankers and bulldozers driven by soldiers will be sent into Victoria's north-east to help in the battle against dozens of bushfires, now merging into a mega fire that has so far razed 97,000ha. Fire authorities have likened the conditions to those before the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires and 1939's Black Friday, as some fire fronts join along fronts as long as 15km. The army tankers will go to the Mansfield...

The Australian Army has begun taking delivery of new tanks which, unlike their predecessors, are likely to see battlefield action, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has warned. The first 18 of 59 Abrams battle tanks - bought from the United States at a cost of $528 million - were unloaded at Port Melbourne on Friday. Each weighs in at 63 tonnes and at full-throttle can hit almost 70 kph. Chief of Army Lieutenant General Peter Leahy told a delivery ceremony in a container terminal that the Abrams were much superior to the army's 30-year-old Leopard tanks, which are being retired without...

SUSPECTED French terrorist Willie Brigitte tried to get information from his wife, former soldier Melanie Brown about the top-secret spy facility at Pine Gap, French police sources say. During her four days of interrogation by French officials in Paris last month, police said Ms Brown recalled incidents with Brigitte in Sydney that, on reflection, seemed suspicious to her. In particular, Ms Brown is understood to have told French interrogators that Brigitte questioned her at length about the US-Australian electronic intelligence station at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs. He asked her if she had ever been inside the base when...

MARCH AIR FORCE RESERVE BASE, Calif. (August 3, 2005) -- With the ever changing mission in Iraq, the Marine Corps has called on our allies from “Down Under” to help add a different aspect to pre-deployment training. Ten Soldiers with the Australian Army are currently working alongside Marine instructors providing pre-deployment training to the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and thousands of other troops in the Marine Corps. “We’re just really glad to get the opportunity to come here and help put an Australian twist on the Marine Corps training,” said Australian Army Capt. Roy Henry, an instructor...

Australian CH47 Chinook helicopters from the Townsville-based 5th Aviation Regiment provide Coalition Forces in the Middle East with medium lift capability transporting troops, vehicles and equipment. The aircraft has proven itself working with the Australian Army's 3rd Brigade by providing essential support to deployed elements. While the Chinook has been in service since the Vietnam war, this variant remains one of the latest additions to the Australian Army's aviation capability. Australian Defence Force photo by Darren Hilder Aussie Naval Gunfire Destroys Artillery Battery, Bunkers By Gunnery Sgt. Charles Portman, U.S. Central Command CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, QATAR, March 24, 2003...