AARC Short Thoughts Competition – Winter Series 2023

‘Army’s Role in Train, Advise and Assist Missions’

Australia’s strategic environment is complex, increasingly contested and rapidly evolving. Major power competition, militarisation, disruptive technological change and other evolving threats pose challenges to Australia’s national security. These developments test Army’s capacity to generate highly trained, disciplined and fit tactical units; preserve its capacity to operate within the integrated force; while simultaneously delivering Army forces in support of the national interest when and where they are needed. 

Train, advise and assist missions have been a longstanding part of the Australian Army’s DNA. From participation in the ‘Dunsterforce’ mission in 1918 through to training Ukrainian recruits under Operation Kudu in 2023, Army has demonstrated that it can train, advise and assist host and partner forces in a variety of operational, administrative and logistic skillsets. Australia’s primary area of focus now and into the future will be the Indo-Pacific region, which is amongst the most ethno-culturally, politically and religiously-diverse environments in the world. The Defence Strategic Review 2023 outlines the importance of reinforcing regional defence partnerships, including deepening engagement and cooperation across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The AARC fosters thought leadership to enhance Australian land power to help meet these challenges.  We work to raise the level of professional debate on war, military force, future land capability development, and its challenges within Army, the nation, and internationally. The AARC is the Chief of Army’s lead agency for coordinating and publishing Army’s land power research.

The 'AARC Short Thoughts Competition – Winter Series 2023’ received submissions with the theme ‘Army’s Role in Train, Advise and Assist Missions’.  An opportunity to contribute ideas about land power to Army’s senior leadership and to help shape Army’s future.

Questions addressing the theme might include:

• What opportunities and liabilities might a structured train, advise and assist capability bring for the generation and sustainment of land power?

• What considerations, concerns and relationships will support Army to contribute to the capacity-building or crisis-response capability of regional partners?

• How might Army leverage train, advise and assist missions in the Indo-Pacific within a framework of deterrence?

• What role can train, advise and assist missions play in an era of increased competition?

• What complementary capabilities and capacity can the ADF, including Army, provide to support regional stability and security?

• How might technological innovation contribute to the delivery of train, advise and assist missions in the region?

• What are the barriers to establishing enduring train, advise and assist missions in an era of limited resources?

Entries are published on the AARC’s Land Power Forum (LPF).