Spotlight Brief 5/21

Welcome to the fifth issue of Future Land Warfare Branch’s Spotlight Brief from the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC).

This issue has a particular emphasis on issues relating to Army’s workforce, culture and ethics in addition to its usual areas of interest. People are at the centre of our Army. Our people are diverse, skilled and resilient volunteers. They lead, inspire and make a difference in our communities, in our region and across the world. They deliver results for Australia every day. Every technological breakthrough must be matched with innovation, and the capability offered by Army’s entrepreneurial soldiers and officers. A future-focussed Army also benefits from transformation in Army’s workforce management as is being revisited though Army People Capability and Future Land Warfare Branches recently.

This particular issue aligns with two key Future Ready Workforce events – noting of course that recent COVID-19 restrictions across the Eastern seaboard have impacted dates:

• The South-East Queensland Jobs Expo in Brisbane aimed at Army Reserve personnel in south-east Queensland. This is Army’s first major step in reengaging the Army Reserve, highlighting key and niche roles where the skill sets that the Reserve have contribute significant depth to, and can reinforce, Army. In doing this, Army hopes to fill some of its full-time holes discussed in this Spotlight issue, especially in technical roles.
• The Future Ready Workforce Workshop will be run in Canberra.  The theme for this workshop is the Value Proposition focusing on solving issues and barriers for the future ready value proposition to make Army an employer of choice and attract the talent required to deliver an Army that is ready now and future ready.

Spotlight Briefs provide a curated overview of issues relevant to Australian Landpower. They derive solely from available open source material. Importantly, inclusion of material in a Spotlight Brief does not imply or reflect Australian Army, Australian Defence Force or Australian Commonwealth Government policy. The brief will be published monthly, distributed by email, and on the Australian Army’s Land Power Forum.

The Australian Army Research Centre welcomes feedback on all publications. If you have a comment, or would like to suggest a pertinent article for the next issue, please contact the AARC Strategic Assessments team via our Contact form. Issue 6 will have a Robotics and Autonomous Systems focus.