Anything is possible... (Trump 2016) The USA didn't anticipate Pearl Harbour would happen and it did. Warfare is significantly different now so I doubt we would see any force attack GI like that, If we were at war then obviously whatever cripples command, control and communications would be a target (power water are significant targets). The Ceto's would be a fairly easy target to cripple from a seaborne attack. The others systems are defensible to some extent and easily rebuilt (months vs years for your nuclear or coal sites). Obviously air supremacy takes the situation to a new level and if we have lost control of the skies we would be well and truly in trouble.
Hopefully the DOD has catered for this but while it is a risk on the risk matrix the possibility is very low and usually it wouldn't be designed for - because if that risk was to eventuate we would essentially have lost already. Reinstalling a damaged ceto only takes a short (see ceto5) while if foundations are intact. So perhaps not a major concern if there are ones lying around in storage, I guess pumps etc may have a lead time. I guess a sapper would target cables and pumps rather than foundations as easier to blow wires than concrete (from external blasts). Potential damage may not come from war - a ship that has broken a mooring may impact cetos too.
Alice springs - Nuke target?? - Pinegap would (I assume) be a high value target - bombing the crap out of it is possible, but obviously capturing it intact would benefit an attacking force as they could potentially utilise it for their own CCC. If a nuke was dropped possibly alice would be fine (sheltered by the hills and distance) but fall out is nasty.
Fancifuly - hopefully, Possible - very much so.
With regards to power, over powering GI during "peacetime" would be of benefit - as you say Mega, the power and water can be sold. As GI is part of SWIS then Rockingham/ Kwinana etc would have a benefit from that facility. I am not a battery engineer and the most I've done is a UPS for a pc. If currently the GI uses 13.3 MW per hour (peak) then if they need to run all of that they would require a 13.3MWh battery for one hour and for 12 hours a 160MWh battery, Obviously some systems aren't needed so you could almost scale that back to 80% or even 60% So a Battery about 96-128MWh would work. But you need to balance the battery to the generator so it could be vastly different again.
With regards to use of GI, I was reading up on the island and the area is relatively untouched since Captain Stirling landed in 1829. http://www.navy.gov.au/establishments/hmas-stirling. Scorched earth clearing that has been done in the southern PV area may not be allowed through environmental concerns. Perhaps covering all the roof space with panels is an option (Mundering Shire offices have this). Also incorporating products such as solar roadways too - remember those guys they are still going!! As they are modular if damage occurs they are hot swappable (much like military runways with hexagonal concrete blocks).
The military segway is bouncing off mega's article and whilst it is very low likelihood surely this is a consideration for DoD. At the end of the day it is what they can can afford and when that is applied to the threat matrix a different result would occur again. Perhaps that money is better spent on better armour and equipment for our war fighters in the field rather than a base with a lower threat risk.
CCE Price at posting:
2.9¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
