I'd like to add a little here, some of it is from a bit of reading and some from a friend who's father was a Major in the Australian Corp of Signals.
The items from the Merc: 2000 book are unfortunately, like a lot of game products dealing with Australia, lacking in some research;
"The army force of helicopters consists of 47 OH-58 Kiowa’s and 48 AH-1s." As much as I like the Cobra, it wouldn't have been selected for Australia unless a fantastically good deal was made for its purchase. We evaluated them during the Vietnam War and the decision was made to acquire them to the point where they were issued an Australian aircraft serial prefix but the war ended and no purchase was made.
Later evaluation in the 1980s decided that attack helicopters were a very low priority and that a helicopter better suited to Australia's environment and long distances was required. More importantly, up until the late 1990s, the Air Force would most likely have been the operator of any attack helicopters we purchased as it was seen to be the primary supplier of combat air assets.
Also, the Army operated the Bell 206B Jet Ranger and not the military model OH-58 Kiowa. As such, they were not fitted for armaments of any sort and were used as light utility, recce/observation only.
This isn't a complaint really, just an attempt to provide some better information for everyone.
"Indo-Australian fixed-wing assets in Indonesia consist of two 16 plane squadrons of A-6..." I believe this is a typo that slipped past the editors as no force outside the USA operated/operates the A-6 as far as I'm aware. I believe it should have read A-4 as Indonesia was a customer for the Skyhawk.
Another mistake in the Merc: 2000 book is the notion that we would automatically buy small arms from the UK so we would be using the L85 and L86 when in fact we were looking to acquire a licence to build M16A2 rifles here but Colt said no so we went for the AUG instead. This is common misconception with RPG companies in Europe as well as the USA.
The Millenium's End information while being more up to date is no less mistaken in some areas.
It is entirely unlikely that we would have bought brand new M2 Bradleys let alone secondhand ones as there has not been any need identified for the operation of MICVs here. They are the province of nations with bigger budgets or larger logistics support. The mech infantry role here is sufficiently covered by updated M113 vehicles.
No mention is made of the L14 Carl Gustav and we have many more of those than the Milan.
Again, it was unlikely any specialized PDW would have been adopted because the military wanted to keep as few types of ammunition as it could. With the use of the AUG, we simply got a shorter barrel version thus rendering the need for a PDW less important. The SAS here rarely use the MP5 in roles outside of CT or VIP protection or special needs (e.g. silenced weapons), they normally use the M4 carbine when an M16 isn't appropriate.
This may be nit-picking but Fremantle (as in HMAS Fremantle) is not spelt Freemantle.
The E-2C Hawkeye, was felt to be too limited in range to serve Australia's needs. An AEW version of the P-3 Orion was actually being developed for Australia although that was eventually dropped in favour of an AEW version of the Boeing 737.
As for what would have been a nuclear target in Australia, the list is actually larger than might be expected.
Certainly Pine Gap would be a target but also the Harold E. Holt communications station next to Exmouth in Western Australia as it controlled all communications to USN submarines in this part of the southern hemisphere. Melbourne would certainly have been a target because it was (still is I think) the location of a Corp of Signals base that handled all the communications between Australia and Canada, the UK and the USA during the Cold War period (it served as a backup for communications between the UK and Canada/USA and the UK and New Zealand too by the looks of things).
Perth may have been on the target list as it is the site of the deep water harbour of Fremantle plus a RAN submarine base, ship building facilities and some petroleum refining/storage. Canberra may be hit simply because it is the site of Australian military command (along with being the seat of government).
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