Session 1: Chief of Army's Opening Address:The Application of Land Power in the Indo-Pacific

Lieutenant General Rick Burr, AO, DSC, MVO, Chief of Army

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting this afternoon, the Kaurna people, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present.

I acknowledge and welcome:

the Minister for Defence, the Honourable Christopher Pyne, the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan,

the Chief of Air Force, Air Vice-Marshal Leo Davies, and

the Chief of Joint Capabilities, Air Vice-Marshal Warren McDonald,

Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, Conference Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen.

‘Welcome to the Adelaide Convention Centre and the first session of the Chief of Army’s Land Forces Seminar 2018—our biggest and, I anticipate, our best yet!

‘This audience is an impressive group—leaders, thinkers and action-officers for change.

‘It is an honour to host you here in Adelaide and I thank you for your presence and participation. As a native South Australian, it is always a pleasure to be able to showcase one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

‘A city that also accommodates some of the most significant Defence initiatives on behalf of the Commonwealth, including:

• the future submarine program
   
• the Woomera rocket testing range in the north of the state
   
• the strategic north-south heavy rail link between Adelaide and Darwin.

The seminar theme for this year is ‘The Application of Land Power in the Indo-Pacific’.

‘It is a vast and complex space. It might be contemplated as an interconnected strategic system, one increasingly defined by a changing geo-political order and an operating spectrum of cooperation, competition and conflict.

‘This was noted by Professor Rory Medcalf of the Australian National University in June of this year:

…the powerhouse economies of East Asia are intimately linked with the wider Indo-Pacific region…in an increasingly connected world, no nation is an island, indeed, no island is an island, this especially applies in the areas of defence and security, trade and investment, as well as aid and development.

‘My aim for this seminar is to build momentum around a conversation about the future of our Army and other land forces more broadly. A conversation that seeks to transform our physical, intellectual and moral capacity for armed conflict in an era of technological disruption and profound change within the Indo-Pacific region.

‘As a reflection of national sovereignty, an Army leverages its own national history, culture and political ethos to generate forces capable of securing their nation’s interests. Armies will have to adapt to meet the challenges of coming decades. Strategic rebalancing, global complexity and constant change will demand transformation as a necessity, rather than a choice.

‘This seminar will allow us to focus on the adaptions and transformation we all must consider in order to out-pace any future potential adversary. For the Australian Army, these changes cannot compromise our ability to manage our present commitments to operations and capability management. As an absolute rule, the Army must maintain its war-fighting capabilities, increase its utility across the full spectrum of conflict and manage our resources responsibly.

‘I remarked upon assuming command of the Army, and many times today already, that we are an Army in Motion.

‘At any given moment our people are operating across multiple environments: whether it be while engaged in combat in support of our interests around the globe; providing humanitarian support as part of the response to a natural disaster; supporting major event security in support of a state government or providing local fire and flood relief to rural and regional areas throughout Australia. This ongoing commitment must continue to make a difference and will always remain an important priority.

‘We must also create space for our own transformation and we must invest and find room for the innovations that will comprehensively enable our future. We must understand technological opportunities ‘early’ and adopt them rapidly when appropriate to do so. Recognising the new horizons of signature management, robotics, autonomous systems, and human- machine teaming, we must also draw on our moral foundations in the profession of arms to see these technologies deliver not just decisive, but lawful and ethical land power.

‘In sustaining the force, we will also need to aspire to apply new technologies as they become available. These may include, amongst others, advanced human performance, additive manufacturing and distributed power cell management.

‘The Australian Army must be an effective member of the Joint Force and valued by our international military partners and our allies. Being openly committed to these partnerships builds trust. Transparency is important in terms of how Army builds relationships inside and outside the Australian Defence Force, to include partners in Defence Industry, other government agencies, academia and other key interest groups.

‘I want to emphasise the centrality of people in terms of capability management and transformation. How we empower our people to embrace new technology in the years ahead will be a driver of change. We must ensure that we absolutely prioritise the development of our workforce in order to allow every single individual who wears our various uniforms to fully realise their potential, particularly as leaders and innovators. We must allow our people to be the very best professional soldiers, teaming them with emergent technologies as part of Army’s embrace of future possibilities.

‘The Australian Army’s recently released Futures Statement, Accelerated Warfare, is designed to stimulate our thinking as an integral part of a Joint Force in a rapidly changing region. It provides a framework to meaningfully consider what that might mean for our Army and how we contribute to the Joint Force and Australia’s national security. Within this accelerating environment, Australia’s Army operates on the land, from the land and onto the land, across all domains including cyber, space, maritime and air.

‘This concept provides a start point for thinking, it is not an answer. It promotes a ‘contest of ideas’.

‘This seminar will help us on that journey, and I look forward to engaging with you about the many questions that will emerge. I welcome discussion and debate, so please share your perspectives with us and help develop the understanding that will be vital in addressing the challenges we all face.

‘These are shared problems and we need to build understanding and shared endeavours. In this context, I believe we have a focused and relevant seminar that embraces these pervasive and persistent challenges.

‘This first session ‘The Indo-Pacific: The Region of Global Connection’ is expressed in a tangible manner by the presence of all the international delegates so ably represented here in this room this afternoon, willing to share perspectives, generate understanding and to build momentum.

‘Tomorrow morning’s session will address ‘Land Power and Countering Violent Extremism’. Like so many nations here, Australia is working right now with like-minded multinational partners towards the common goal of defeating violent extremism. These are truly whole-of-nation efforts.

‘Wednesday afternoon’s session will examine ‘Generating Land Power Through Partnering’. Partnerships—joint, bilateral or multilateral—are an enduring aspiration for land forces. We can do so much more when we work together, each organisation brings its unique strengths and abilities to hand. This session seeks to get into the substantive issue of achieving real and consequential partnerships within the Indo-Pacific.

‘Our final session on Thursday morning will address ‘The Character of Future Indo-Pacific Land Forces’. Our environment is changing—implicit in that is a requirement for land forces to change in response. I suspect the speakers will challenge some of our current ideas about the future of the forces we are responsible for.

‘Together, these sessions deliver a comprehensive examination of our seminar theme: ‘The Application of Land Power in the Indo-Pacific’. I look forward to the sessions deepening our understanding of these issues as we share our perspectives, and to then inform, in practical and purposeful ways, the refining of our strategy and concepts for embracing this new environment.

‘So to conclude, open channels of communication will remain vital. I encourage you to continue to promote discussion, share ideas, and encourage innovation in order to maximise this opportunity. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. In particular, I ask for your support in what is an exciting and vital period for our Army—a time in which we will continue to generate the essential land power our nation’s security requires and transform ourselves in order to be ready for the future.

‘I again thank you for your attendance, and encourage all to engage, contribute, and generate momentum from this outstanding event.

‘It is now my great honour to introduce our keynote speaker. The Minister for Defence, another passionate South Australian, the Honourable Christopher Pyne. Minister, thank you very much again for your interest in our Army, for your support for our Defence force, and what you do for our nation. It is a great privilege to invite you to the lectern to address this group.’

Figure 10. Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army. The number of troops in uniform according to the Sri Lanka Army Report 2016 is 113 507 in the Regular Army and 63 631 in the Volunteer Army (ie Reserves) (Image: Sri Lanka Army website)