Rearming the Anzacs tells a remarkable story about how the Royal Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigates - once regarded as a second-tier warship, ‘fitted for but not with’ key weapon systems - were, in the words of a key participant, upgraded to become pound for pound ‘probably the best warship of its size in the world’.

In this, the first of a series of ASPI case studies in defence projects, historian, novelist and biographer Robert Macklin explains how the Anzac frigates were rearmed with some of the world’s best air defence technology. The book is based on extensive personal interviews conducted by Macklin with central figures in the Anzac frigate story. It’s a ‘warts and all’ account that casts a critical but constructive eye over a defence procurement saga that cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars, but ultimately equipped the Navy with ships that have since served around the world.

The book is available here: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/rearming-anzacs