Reporter: Michael Usher
Producer: Jo Townsend
Where do you think the next great threat to world peace will come from? Iran perhaps. Or Iraq?
Maybe a cave somewhere in the Afghan mountains?
Well, there are some who believe that China, the newest superpower on the world block, is the country to watch.
And if they're right, Australia better be ready.
Michael Usher has just spent some time with our navy, watching in awe as they played war games with the Americans and twelve other nervous Pacific nations and there was some serious fire power on display.
Extra features on this report:
Read Michael Usher's blog on this story and have your say
PHOTOS: 60 Minutes goes behind-the-scenes with the Australian navy
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For more information on the Australian Navy go to:
www.navy.gov.au
Full transcript:
STORY -
NAVAL PERSONNEL 1: 1-5-0 engine ahead 15 knots.
NAVAL PERSONNEL 2: 1-5-0 engine ahead 15 knots.
JUSTIN JONES: It's the ultimate computer game.
JUSTIN JONES: The reality is we are training for conflict.
MICHAEL USHER: It's an imposing spectacle - a giant armada of the most powerful warships ever to sail in one fleet.
MICHAEL USHER: These are war games on an overwhelming scale and, when you're in the thick of it, it sure feels like the real thing.
JUSTIN JONES: It's always the real thing. We're dealing with live ammunition. We're dealing with high explosives, so there's no exercise or 'for practice', it's dangerous all the time.
MICHAEL USHER: Welcome to Rimpac, short for Rim of the Pacific. We're a 150km off Hawaii at the world's biggest naval exercise. Everyone here is united against an imaginary rogue superpower.
JUSTIN JONES: Yes, I think there are aspects of this exercise which are as close as you can get to the real deal.
MICHAEL USHER: Right now, the crew of the Australian frigate, HMAS 'Newcastle' has an enemy target in their sights. Commander Justin Jones is calling the shots. This war might be make-believe, but there's nothing fake about the weapon he's about to fire. It's the most lethal missile ever to be loaded onto an Australian ship, so some details are still classified 'top secret'.
JUSTIN JONES: We're probably shooting more than three times the range that we're used to.
MICHAEL USHER: So, this is a big step forward?
JUSTIN JONES: Yeah, it is. Yeah, yeah.
ZOE MACK: I think sometimes that you thrive off the environment that is in the ops room because it's a war fighting environment, and that's what we come out to sea to do Five on target bearing 2-7-0, range 1-0-9.
MICHAEL USHER: The finger hovering over the launch button of that rocket-propelled missile belongs to Zoe Mack, from Sydney.
ZOE MACK: Assigning gun FC5.
MICHAEL USHER: She's a 24-year-old leading seamen who's been training for this moment for years...
ZOE MACK: Radar target bearing 2-7-2, range 1-0-9
MICHAEL USHER: ..the first Australian to fire the state-of-the-art supersonic warhead.
ZOE MACK: You come out to sea to fight and win, and the environment is set up, there's adrenaline pumping, everything's sort of heightened, especially your senses when you're firing a missile.
MICHAEL USHER: And just with one hit of a button?
ZOE MACK: Yes.
NAVAL PERSONNEL 3: Command approved.
NAVAL PERSONNEL 4: Mount 31, engage.
ZOE MACK: Mount 31, shoot. ** PAUSE ** It was that intense and just amazing - the most amazing experience I'll probably have in my life!
MICHAEL USHER: Is that the first time you'd fired the missiles?
ZOE MACK: Yes. Yes. I've been waiting to do that pretty much since I joined.
MICHAEL USHER: And with that press of a button, Zoe has just wiped out an unseen enemy aircraft far beyond the horizon. No-one's saying who the enemy is supposed to be, but here's a hint. The only major Pacific country not participating in this giant exercise is China. The world's newest superpower is threatening the United States' dominance in our region for the first time in 60 years, and that's making everyone a little nervous.
PROFESSOR HUGH WHITE: As Asia changes, all kinds of bets are off. China has increased very sharply its capacity to sink American ships. And, if we see the US and China going head to head in Asia, then the fact that China's got a lot more power than it used to have could make a real difference to Australia and we could find ourselves being drawn in.
MICHAEL USHER: Former government defence advisor Professor Hugh White points out that while the world's focus has been on terrorism, China has been quietly building its maritime might.
PROFESSOR HUGH WHITE: It's been very common for Americans to say that the biggest threat to America's place in the world is posed by a bloke in a cave. Whereas I would say that the biggest challenge to America's place in the world has been posed by the fact that the world's most populous country has been growing at 7,8,9% per annum year after year after year, and a country that is not content to accept American leadership indefinitely.
MICHAEL USHER: God forbid we ever went to war with an Asian neighbour, but would that be fought at land or at sea?
PROFESSOR HUGH WHITE: It would be fought at sea.
MICHAEL USHER: To counter that threat, our government is spending $10 billion upgrading our naval strength and much of what we've got, as well as much of what we want, is on show here off Hawaii. This is the type of warship we've bought, and not just one but two of them. It's an imposing sight out at sea. It looks a lot like an aircraft carrier but it's called a Landing Helicopter Dock, and the Aussie version of these, which are being built right now, will be the biggest ships ever sailed by the Australian Navy. Our ships will be almost identical to the very impressive USS 'Bonhomme Richard'. Just compare these new warships to current navy stalwart HMAS 'Kanimbla'. And they'll even dwarf our old aircraft carrier the 'Melbourne'. At 30,000 tonnes, it can land 22 helicopters on deck and, in the belly of the beast, an enormous transport and troop carrier. When that back deck goes down, up to 1,000 soldiers can be deployed to shore.
JUSTIN JONES: Whilst they're not aircraft carriers in the purest sense, they are indeed aircraft carriers, and it'll be a steep change in our capability.
MICHAEL USHER: It gives us a big presence in our region.
JUSTIN JONES: It does, it does, and a lot of flexibility, though, as well.
MICHAEL USHER: On board the USS 'Bonhomme Richard', you get an even better idea of what these massive warships can do and, today, the Americans are letting us take her for a test drive. An Australian naval commander is in charge up on the bridge while, down below, 130 Townsville-based soldiers from 2RAR are about to show me what it's like to be involved in a full-on land assault. The idea is to get these troops into hot spots in a hurry. But how these lumps of steel float, let alone power their way to shore, is beyond me. Well, we've hit the ocean at full pace. this is one hell of a ride, believe me. It is incredibly cramped in here and unbelievably hot and, as you can tell, it is very, very noisy, but it's critical training. Woah, hitting a wave there. It's critical training for our soldiers because this is how the army and navy are gearing up to fight future conflicts. Again, the exercise is set up to simulate real combat. The mission for Major Mick Buchanan and his men is to storm an enemy stronghold on shore, complete with live ammunition.
MICHAEL USHER: An amphibious attack like this makes for a swift and powerful strike and a quick withdrawal for that same stomach-churning ride back to the ship. Where can you see this in use around Australia? Where would it be best used?
MICK BUCHANAN: A totally flexible piece of equipment you know, we get - could take onto shore with humanitarian aid. It can take, you know, it's a large vehicle. It could place us for any sort of contingency we face. It can be used to get our guys where we need them at the right time.
MICHAEL USHER: Any beach, anywhere?
MICK BUCHANAN: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
MICHAEL USHER: Rough ride, I think I held it down?
MICK BUCHANAN: Yeah you've - good job.
MICHAEL USHER: Good on you. The navy reckons it's not just for times of conflict - the truth of it is these new ships, and all this expertise will most likely be used in the event of natural disaster, delivering invaluable human aid. But Professor Hugh White says don't mistake the real reason the navy's spending up big now - that's to counter the Chinese build-up.
PROFESSOR HUGH WHITE: The navy is very happy to explain why it wants these big ships in terms of disaster relief and stabilisation operations, but you wouldn't buy these ships for that any more than you'd buy a semitrailer to take your kid to preschool. You can take your kid to preschool in a semitrailer but you wouldn't buy a semitrailer to do it!
JUSTIN JONES: China is certainly building up its defence force and its navy. I don't know whether you necessarily draw the long bow between our capability enhancements in the Australian Navy and China. You could just as easily look at the Korean Peninsula now and raise an eyebrow.
MICHAEL USHER: Whatever the threat is, there's no doubt power in the Pacific is shifting, testing Australia's allegiances. And that's the reason Zoe Mack's got to be razor-sharp.
NAVAL PERSONNEL 5: Command approved.
NAVAL PERSONNEL 6: Mount 31, engage.
ZOE MACK: Mount 31, shoot.
MICHAEL USHER: At $1 million a go, she won't get too many chances to practice firing these missiles.
ZOE MACK: Mount 31, stood to.
MICHAEL USHER: That's why these war games have been so important for Australia and so downright nerve-wracking for Zoe.
ZOE MACK: My heart was racing. To begin with, I thought I was going to vomit and then, when I fired it, it was just everything that we'd been drilling, we'd been practising.
MICHAEL USHER: But it's that intense, there's that much pressure, you felt like you were going to be ill?
ZOE MACK: It was, I can't even make that up. It was that intense, but I'm sure I've made Mum very proud.
MICHAEL USHER: I bet you did, too.
