Australia has announced plans to buy five new warships at a cost of more than A$11bn ($9bn; £4.5bn). The three destroyers and two amphibious troop carriers will be Australia's most advanced and expensive warships.And as anyone who has watched Aussie Rules Football can testify... these guys play hard.
Prime Minister John Howard said they would greatly enhance the country's ability to send forces at strength.
The BBC reported earlier today that Iranian naval forces tried to capture the boarding team, but were repelled in the face of machine guns and "highly colourful language".I love these guys.
Quoting a "military source", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner reported Iranian forces made a concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy and that the Australians "were having none of it".
"The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched," Gardner reports, "aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians, and warned them to back off, using what was said to be 'highly colourful language'.
"The Iranians withdrew, and the Australians were reportedly lifted off the ship by one of their own helicopters."
Technorati Tags: Aussie Rules, Prime Minister John Howard, Royal Australian Navy
