Contribute

The Occasional Papers are papers that significant works that generally stand alone are designed to generate informed discussion and new ideas that contribute to Army modernisation and the future of land power. The Occasional Papers seek both a domestic and global audience. Contributions from serving military personnel are encouraged, reinforcing Army’s commitment to the intellectual development of its people.

The themes are:

  • Future of Army: Papers in this series will explore elements of how Army might operate in the future and make a contribution to the debate on the State of the Australian Army Profession.
  • Conflict Theory and Strategic: These papers will add to the body of knowledge in the area of conflict theory and strategy.
  • Command and Leadership: Papers in this series will seek to enhance the quality of leadership in the Australian Army.
  • Human Performance: Papers in this series will focus on the development of human performance within Army to operate effectively in the modern battlespace.
  • Operational Development: This series is focused on the development of the operational art.
  • Technical Development: These papers will add significantly to the body of knowledge of technical developments which can enhance Army.
  • Ethos and Ethics: This series will focus on ethical issues relating to conflict.

To submit an Occasional Paper, go to the Contribute page.

'Planning to Not Lose' cover image

Planning to Not Lose: The Australian Army's New Philosophy of War

03 May 2021 This paper challenges accepted views about the Australian Army’s role in fighting and winning wars. The author contends that the Australia’s traditional dependence on major power alliances, and a prevalent intellectual laziness within society, means that the Australian Army is poorly prepared to respond to a troubling list of contemporary factors that compromise Australia’s security interests. In response, the paper presents the case for a new philosophy of warfare - ‘planning not to lose’.
Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 2 - Autonomous Offset Strategy cover

Toward a Trusted Autonomous Systems Offset Strategy: Examining the Options for Australia as a Middle Power

18 April 2021 As a middle power, Australia depends on maintaining its comparative edge in emerging military innovation in order to create strategic advantage. This paper presents an examination whether the Australian Army should adopt Trusted Autonomous Systems as part of its offset strategy. The authors contend that this outcome is both achievable and desirable. However, it will require targeted government investment and a cultural shift within Australian defence community to prioritise and support creative risk-taking and innovation.
Three Block Community Support Australian Army Occasional Paper cover

Three Block Community Support: An Australian Defence Force Capability

29 March 2021 During humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) responses, the ADF may be required – ‘within three city blocks’ - to simultaneously support emergency responders; conduct clean-up, clearance and repair tasks; and utilise core skills, such as sea, land and air mobility, logistics, communications, medical and engineering. This paper describes how this so-called ‘three block community support’ was achieved during Operation Bushfire Assist 2019–2020 and proposes measures for enhancing the ADF’s future HADR capability through procedural, organisational and cultural change.
Cover of Every Possible Capability Bushfire paper

Every Possible Capability: Some Implications of the Army Reserve Call Out for Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020

10 November 2020 During the latter months of 2019 and the new year of 2020, Australia experienced catastrophic and widespread bushfires. As the situation worsened, the federal government unexpectedly called out the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Reserves to bolster an already significant deployment of ADF regular forces to contribute to a massive interagency and volunteer community response. This deployment was the largest ever peacetime domestic ADF operation in response to a natural disaster. The ADF responding to domestic natural disasters is not new.  What was new in this case was the scale of the…
COVER_An uncertain and dangerous decade (Beaumont)

An uncertain and dangerous decade: Preparing the Army for the next ten years

24 July 2020 The Australia of 2020 is amid a health and economic crisis that it did not fully anticipate, after a bushfire emergency of such significance that wartime provisions for a military response were required, while witnessing dramatic shifts in the geostrategic environment. The complexity of circumstances defies memory, with events of historic scale and significance. It has been a challenge for the Army, as part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), to respond to this confluence of problems. This is not a reflection of an idleness in the Army – far from it. It is a…
Aiding the Civil Authority: the potential for a broader Army role in domestic counter-terrorism cover

Aiding the Civil Authority

24 September 2019 This paper examines what a bigger role for Army in domestic CT response could actually look like. Given the current threat environment, what might a terrorist incident requiring an Army response look like? What types of activities may Army need to perform to assist Australian governments to deter/prevent, respond to or recover from a terrorist attack?
Rapid Intervention and Confl ict Resolution

Rapid Intervention and Conflict Resolution: British Military Intervention in Sierra Leone 2000-2002

04 March 2019 The British operation in Sierra Leone is regarded as a rare success for Western military intervention. In the popular narrative, British paratroopers deployed to Freetown over a weekend and, through a mix of professionalism, organisation and chutzpah, ‘[saved] the UN from disaster and [hastened] the end of an exceptionally nasty war.’
Pre-Landing Operations cover

Pre-Landing Operations: Getting Old Tasks Done in an Age of Transparency

22 February 2019 Amphibious warfare has always been an ever-escalating race of strategy and technological ‘besting’. Dr Al Palazzo’s latest paper covers the crucial role of pre-landing plans and operations to winning this race.
The worst of both worlds

The Worst of Both Worlds: An analysis of urban littoral combat

22 April 2018 This is a paper about fighting in cities on coastlines – the contemporary topic of the combat in the ‘urban littoral’. This paper argues that urban littoral combat is the ‘worst of both worlds’ and brings together two of the most difficult forms of warfare – urban and amphibious operations.
Understanding war’s theory

Understanding War's Theory: What Military Theory Is, Where it Fits and Who Influences it.

01 April 2018 How do we, as professionals, tell if something is military theory, or just opinion and conjecture? Knowing what military theory is, and what it is not, is vital. It helps identify what writings further our understanding of war and warfare, and guides professional military education and research for future doctrine and training.
understanding suicide

Understanding Suicide

13 November 2017 A primer for ADF commanders to assist them with the challenge of military suicide.
Taking the cultural temperature in combat brigades

Taking the Cultural Temperature in Combat Brigades

01 November 2017 Taking the Cultural Temperature in Combat Brigades: Thematic Findings from the Australian Human Rights Commission Collaboration for Cultural Reform.
Command and control in modern warfare

Command and control in modern warfare

18 October 2017 This paper is the first in the series of Occasional Papers published by the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC). AARC was established by Chief of Army to foster knowledge of, and debate on, the profession of arms.
Transforming Australian Army Logistics to sustain the Joint Land Force

Transforming Australian Army Logistics to Sustain the Joint Land Force

01 October 2017 There is need for the Australian Army and its logisticians to address the transformation of its logistics capabilities, concepts and processes. This is not only because Army must look to the future and the ever-changing face of war, nor is it because of revelations gained through nearly twenty years of operational experiences.
Building on Beersheba

Building on Beersheba

13 September 2017 Army’s Plan Beersheba, currently being implemented, has changed Army’s force structure to provide a wider range of ready, sustainable land force capabilities.
Force design

Force Design in the 1990s

22 August 2017 Force Design in the 1990s: Lessons for Contemporary Military Change Management - Lieutenant-Colonel Renée Kidson,
Australian Army military police soldiers and various Fire and Rescue NSW personnel work to free a trapped ‘casualty’ during the Defence Force School of Policing training activity at Holsworthy Barracks, Sydney, 2016.

Teaming

10 July 2017 An introduction to gender studies, unshackling human talent and optimising military capability for the coming Era of Equality: 2020 to 2050
An Australian doctrinal concept for Special Warfare: Lessons and Considerations

An Australian doctrinal concept for Special Warfare: Lessons and Considerations

22 December 2016 This paper launches this conversation by offering ‘best practice’ recommendations for the conduct of special warfare, and providing an initial reference for those assigned to mentor Iraqi forces or undertake international engagement activities with like-minded security partners.
Short War in a Perpetual Conflict

Short War in a Perpetual Conflict: Implications of Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge for the Australian Army

01 June 2016 Israel’s is a state of continuous conflict, frequently of the armed variety, and not uncommonly achieving levels of violence that qualify as war.
Cover of The Ryan Review

The Ryan Review

21 April 2016 There will be some readers who will point out aspects of Army’s education, training and doctrine that are not addressed in this study. It should be noted that it was never the intention to attend to every challenge facing education, training and doctrine in Army. This was clearly not achievable, especially in a short period of time. However, the aim has been to identify the significant issues that in being addressed; might generate impact and momentum for broader change and innovation.
Gravity-free decision-making

Gravity-free decision-making: Avoiding Clausewitz's strategic pull

01 December 2015 While many elements of von Clausewitz’s seminal work On War are entrenched within most Anglo-Saxon military doctrines, practices and methodologies for strategic planning, none have taken such a grip upon military institutions as his ‘centres of gravity’ precept. American military academia in particular has invested significant time and resources into debating the value of the centre of gravity. This is problematic because the concept continues to appear questionable in both application to real world scenarios and dubious in complex, adaptive environments for gaining greater…
Forging Australian Land Power

Forging Australian Land Power: A Primer

01 December 2015 For military organisations, the aftermath of a war represents an opportunity to rest and refit, to think about the lessons so painfully learned and to preserve those of enduring value in education, training and doctrine. Arguably of even more importance, it is a time to reflect on and ask basic questions about the character of war: what has changed, what has remained the same, and what opportunities and challenges are suggested for the future evolution of the wars that are yet to come. Albert Palazzo’s research paper Forging Australian Land Power: A Primerpursues a single objective…
Towards an Australian Maritime Strategy

The Third Way: Towards an Australian Maritime Strategy for the Twenty-first Century

01 June 2014 This paper argues that, despite being the world’s largest island, the greatest paradox of Australia’s existence is that the country lacks a maritime consciousness to guide defence policy.
Preparing the Australian Army for joint employment

Preparing the Australian Army for joint employment

01 January 2007 In 2007, a number of events and ideas combined to initiate improvements to the Australian Army's land force projection.
men in the mud

Putting Your Young Men in the Mud

22 November 2003 Over the past 100 years, the manner in which the infantry battalion is employed has undergone revolutionary change
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