Major Australian defence projects with approved budgets totalling more than A$70 billion ($45 billion) are overbudget and cumulatively decades late, the government said on Monday, amid China's plans to increase its influence in the Pacific.
At least 28 defense projects are collectively 97 years late, including the A$44 billion anti-submarine frigates programme and purchases of 12 offshore patrol vessel and a digital battlefield command system, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.
