item":{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https://www.thestandard.com.hk/comment"}}]}]17:T715,Australia yesterday outlined a decade-long plan to double its fleet of major warships and boost defense spending by an additional US$7 billion (HK$54.6 billion) in the face of a quickening Asia-Pacific arms race.

Under the plan, Australia will get a navy of 26 major surface combatant ships, up from 11 today.

"It is the largest fleet that we will have since the end of the World War II," said defense minister Richard Marles.

The announcement comes after a massive build-up of firepower by China and Russia and amid growing confrontation between nervous US-led allies and increasingly bellicose authoritarian governments.

Australia will get six Hunter class frigates, 11 general-purpose frigates, three air warfare destroyers and six state-of-the-art surface warships that do not need to be crewed.

At least some of the fleet will be armed with Tomahawk missiles capable of long-range strikes on targets deep inside enemy territory - a major deterrent capability.

The plan would see Australia increase its defense spending to 2.4 percent of gross domestic product, above the 2 percent target set by its NATO allies.

Some of the ships will be built in Adelaide, ensuring more than 3,000 jobs, but others will be sourced from US designs and a still undecided design to come from Spain, Germany, South Korea or Japan.

In 2021, Australia announced plans to buy at least three US-designed nuclear-powered submarines, scrapping a years-long plan to develop non-nuclear subs from France that had already cost billions of dollars.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Australia to double fleet of warships amid arms race