This year, the stakes are higher, and the numbers are bigger. Together with our experts, we are deep-diving into the 2026 National Defence Strategy (NDS) and the Integrated Investment Program (IIP).
With a staggering $425 billion committed, the government is doubling down on the foundations of the 2023 Defence Strategic Review and 2024 National Defence Strategy to ensure the ADF is not just keeping up, but staying ahead in a global landscape that looks increasingly fractured and contested.
Why you need a seat at the table:
Australia’s defence industry is not just a support act; it’s the backbone of our national resilience. If you want to know how your business fits into the most transformational period in our military history, you need to be in the room.
Australia's defence budget is now driven by the 2026 National Defence Strategy and the Integrated Investment Program, focusing on a more lethal, self-reliant force. Priority is on long-range strike, missile defence, undersea, cyber and space capabilities, shifting Defence towards deterrence and high-intensity operations
Joining forces to deliver the capabilities, at speed and scale to the Australian warfighter to guarantee deterrence and deliver impactful projection
Assess how the budget and strategy align funding to capability delivery, ensuring each dollar produces real, deployable military effect and avoids hollow capability
The Opposition responds to the 2026 Federal Budget, National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Programs with some serious questions to be asked.
Set against global shocks such as the 2026 Iran conflict and its economic spillovers, unpack how the 2026 federal budget aligns or misaligns defence spending with readiness, resilience, and industrial capacity to sustain capability in a more contested and unstable security environment
Dissect how the National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program define the future force, aligning capability decisions with strategic priorities
Analyse how readiness and modernisation are sharpening the Army's role in regional deterrance, delivering deployable, lethal and integrated land forces, now that the focus is on delivering rapid response, sustained operations, and credible combat power across the Indo-Pacific
Unpack how the transformation of the Royal Australian Navy's larger fleet, AUKUS submarines, and autonomous systems is positioning the Navy as the tip of the spear, delivering reach, persistence, and lethal maritime power to deter and, if required, to dominate the sea
Deep dive into how modern airpower and joint capabilities are converging to deliver deterrence by denial, combining strike, air defence, ISR and networked effects to control the battlespace and prevent adversary freedom of action.
Examine whether the Integrated Investment Program is funding Cyber and Space capabilities at the speed and scale the 2026 National Defence Strategy demands, and what the gaps mean for joint warfighting and sovereign resilience