Strategic Assessment (Quarter 2, 2020)

The purpose of this paper is to highlight key trends and challenges to the Army in order to inform force design, structure and posture decisions. It considers emergent challenges faced by Australia and assesses their implications for the Army’s future concepts, force structure and narrative. This paper is oriented towards the impact of the summer bushfire season, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ramifications of these events within the geostrategic environment. The impact of the pandemic has yet to fully manifest, and therefore further disruption should be expected. A substantial quantity of analysis is becoming available as academic and research institutes publish, and discourse within the Australian national-security enterprise continues. All will contribute to the development of the Army’s strategic narrative as the Service, within the ADF, responds to this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.