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The 2025 Chief of Army Essay Competition is now live!

The 2025 Chief of Army Essay Competition is now open. Army awards the winner of the Competition the Chauvel Prize, named in honour of General Sir Henry George (Harry) Chauvel, GCMG, KCB, and we publish the winning entry in the Australian Army Journal.

The Australian Army runs essay competitions to encourage writing on land warfare and joint operations. These competitions also develop and maintain the intellectual component of combat power.

How to enter

Australian Army Journal Volume 20 Number 3

Mobilisation requires a multi-disciplinary debate from civil and military security practitioners. The latest edition of the Australian Army Journal, with an introduction by Hannah Woodford-Smith, features perspectives drawn from Australia’s historical and contemporary operational experience.

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Occasional Paper 27: Spontaneous Volunteers: The Applied History of Domestic Operations

The role of the military in domestic operations is one of the most vexing issues in a democracy, made complex by a lack of historical work. This occasional paper offers the first definitive history of all instances of call outs in Australia since 1901, in order to provide a left and right of arc for contemporary policy and operational thresholds.

Read the paper

What does it take to adapt Army?

The ‘Adapting Army’ podcast invites visionary leaders from Army, Defence, industry and academia to share their stories and insights to explore how Army can adapt through people, partnerships, and innovation. Join us as we examine how Army can drive change, harness disruptive technology, and take advantage of the exciting possibilities that will shape our preparedness and capabilities to meet the challenges ahead.

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Urban Warfare: A Practitioner’s Annotated Bibliography

'Urban Warfare – A Practitioners Annotated Bibliography’ provides access to a wealth of resources about urban warfare to military practitioners. In it, the AARC has collated over 500 papers, articles and reports on the topic of urban warfare. Each resource listed in the bibliography is directly or indirectly, accessible online, including many examples that would not otherwise be readily located using online search engines.

Access this valuable resource

Occasional Papers

Spontaneous Volunteers

The role of the military in domestic operations is one of the most vexing issues in a democracy, made complex by a lack of historical work. This occasional paper offers the first definitive history of all instances of call outs in Australia since 1901, in order to provide a left and right of arc for contemporary policy and operational thresholds.

Benchmarking Bottom Up Defence Innovation in the Australian Defence Force

Militaries around the world are involving staff members in the continuous improvement and adaptation of capabilities. This Occasional Paper develops benchmarks for these activities through a comparative study of bottom-up innovation initiatives at the ADF, NZDF, BAF and US Military.

Autonomous Cyber Capabilities and International Law on the Use of Force, Self-Defence, Intervention, and Sovereignty

Autonomous and artificial intelligence enabled systems are increasingly being used in cybersecurity and cyber operations by nation-states. In this Occasional Paper, Dr Samuli Haataja examines how international law applies to autonomous cyber capabilities and explains the legal risks associated with their use.

Journals

Volume 20 Number 3

Mobilisation requires a multi-disciplinary debate from civil and military security practitioners. The latest edition of the Australian Army Journal, with an introduction by Hannah Woodford-Smith, features perspectives drawn from Australia’s historical and contemporary operational experience.

Volume 20 Number 2

This edition of the Australian Army Journal signposts some of the new professional knowledge that may be required in respect of technological development, ways of fighting and geography. It covers a diverse range of interests, including; the relationship of the social identity approach to military leadership, the fourth industrial revolution and its likely impacts on indirect firepower and targeting, a historical case study of Army’s capacity for rapid adaptation with regard to amphibious operations, and an analysis of Army train, advise and assist missions.
Cover of Australian Army Journal 2024 Volume XX Number 1

Volume 20 Number 1

In his introduction, Deputy Chief of Army notes that this issue of the Australian Army Journal includes articles, speeches and book reviews covering land warfare, theoretical concepts for how Army might respond to changes to warfare and lessons for strategic thinking. These provide alternative points of focus, new thinking and optimism as Army continues to implement directions from the Defence Strategic Review.
  • An Australian Army M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank fires its main armament during Exercise Gauntlet Strike at Puckapunyal Military Training Area in Victoria.

    Land Power Forum

    The Land Power Forum blog is published by the Australian Army Research Centre in order to generate discussion and debate about the future of Army.

    It is a forum for informed analysis, commentary, thoughts and ideas. Contributions are welcomed from stakeholders, subject matter experts and those interested in future land warfare.

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  • RICO logo

    RICO

    The Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation & Coordination Office (RICO) explores, coordinates, and develops disruptive technology that equips Army to be Future Ready.

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