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Army MakerSpace is an Army program with the aim to improve the cognitive ability of Army Personnel through creativity and non-traditional ways of thinking, coupled with the delivery of ‘Maker skills’ within the MakerSpace site/facility. FAQs Who is MakerSpace for? MakerSpace is not just for Technical People. MakerSpace is for all Army. It is about learning to think differently, solve problems and learn through making. Through the training anyone can come along to make and learn. What can I do at the …

An Operational Overview of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine February-June 2022 Abstract This Spotlight brief describes the events of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, part of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. This analysis is in three parts: first, it examines the broad composition of the Russian and Ukrainian Armed Forces; second, it discusses the first phase of the invasion from February-April outlining the major operational level actions; and third, it discusses the invasion’s second phase covering …

The Strategic Circumstances of the Russo-Ukraine War Introduction As the origin of its name implies, ‘borderland’,1 Ukraine has long served as a buffer state between Eastern and Western Europe. Its history reflects the continued and often violent contest for its allegiance, if not ownership. Ukraine’s importance has been recently underscored by its invasion on 24 February 2022 by the Russian Armed Forces. This was a significant escalation of the conflict which commenced with Russia’s annexation of the …

Foreword The Australian soldier has a well-earned reputation for expertise in counter-insurgency. Perhaps this reputation is born from Australia’s experience of the Malayan Emergency, the Borneo Confrontation or the Vietnam War; and it was probably sustained through United Nations deployments as peacekeepers within generally fractured societies. Regardless of its genesis, this collection of papers responds to this tradition, by focussing academic inquiry into the irregular form of warfare. Examination of …

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 …

  A Practitioners Annotated Bibliography FOREWORD “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana 1905 Every few decades a generation of soldiers learns the ‘lessons’ of urban warfare the hard way. Yet it seems that those …

Spotlight Brief 7/21 has particular emphasis on issues relating to the future of warfare, especially land warfare, in addition to its usual areas of interest. The Australian Army operates across a broad range of missions, but what is common is its need to continuously adapt; to respond to the rapid pace of change, to always be prepared to do more, to do things differently, and to do new things. The Army has grasped this, reflected in its work to incorporate and respond to Accelerated Warfare , and …

Introduction The fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August, and the announcement of the Australia, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership in September, mark the third quarter (Q3) 2021 Strategic Assessment as covering the most significant strategic developments since these assessments began. Despite the extensive recent commentary about the end of the West’s campaign in Afghanistan and the beginning of an important new strategic partnership, there is still a great deal of …

The world looks over the shoulders of corporals and holds them accountable for every time they and their soldiers pull the trigger, as well as for their behaviour towards those they encounter. Their tactical decisions and personal conduct may have significance that reaches far beyond their individual actions. Corporals must be able to operate in troubles cities, among traumatised and displaced people, while being provoked and attacked by a range of unarmed and armed groups. Their reactions can have …

Executive Summary The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are seemingly stabilising, with global economies, including Australia’s, on the road to recovery. The ‘securitisation’ of diversifying and expanding threats ‘in the national interest’ might counterintuitively inhibit the development of the resilience needed from across all of Australia’s elements of national power. The Quarter 3 Strategic Assessment concludes that Army will face a planning challenge of ‘building back better’ via an expanding scope of …