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The Australia of 2020 is amid a health and economic crisis that it did not fully anticipate, after a bushfire emergency of such significance that wartime provisions for a military response were required, while witnessing dramatic shifts in the geostrategic environment. The complexity of circumstances defies memory, with events of historic scale and significance. It has been a challenge for the Army, as part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), to respond to this confluence of problems. This is not a …

Achieving that Long-Desired Information Advantage Foreword This thoughtful and candid article from Jason Logue addresses challenges and opportunities within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) regarding the evolution of operations in the information environment. While he focuses on his experiences within the ADF, his characterisation, observations and views are consistent with US challenges based upon my almost 30 years of experience as US Department of Defense Information professional. Essentially, Grey …

Introduction During humanitarian and disaster relief responses, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) may be required to work on several different levels at once. In one moment in time, our ADF members support communities, volunteers, emergency responders and their leaders. In the next moment, they provide teams for evacuation, clean-up, clearance and repair tasks. Finally, they utilise their core skills, such as sea, land and air mobility, logistics, communications, medical and engineering—all on the same …

Overstating the Priority for United States Military Fuel Sustainability in Australia Abstract Reducing the United States military’s petroleum consumption became a declared Obama Administration-era policy. This policy was often framed as a measure to address the tactical losses suffered during fuel supply operations in the Middle East, but there were notable links to environmental and broader energy security agendas. While the US military undertook a large number of mostly modest initiatives to reduce …

Introduction: The Changed Face of War This report examines how the Australian Army’s engagement with and use of social media compares to that of a selection of its allied and comparator militaries. It finds that, despite the welcome establishment of the Information Warfare Division (IWD) in July 2017, Army continues to trail its allies and is a long way behind best practice in its adoption of, adaptation to and use of social media as a capability in the contest for information advantage against its …

Human-Machine Teaming and the Future of Command and Control in the Australian Army Abstract In 2018, the Australian Army launched its Robotic and Autonomous Systems Strategy to capitalise on the military opportunities presented by the much-anticipated ‘fourth industrial revolution’ in artificial intelligence and machine learning software. The key to realising this potential lies in the effective integration of soldiers and autonomous systems, known as human-machine teaming. Through human-machine teaming, …

Abstract Rapid, globalised power shifts, technological advances, and increasingly interconnected, ungoverned communications networks have resulted in the rise of asymmetric grey zone threats. The lines are now blurred between political, civil, and military information environments. The rise of influence activities is the new ‘sharp power’ in information warfare (the iWar). Western democracies are already at war in the information domain and are being out-communicated by their adversaries. Building on the …

Evolving Australian and Allied Special Operations Forces to Fight and Win in the Chaos Foreword The contemporary conflict environment is complex, cluttered and highly connected. In an urbanised, heavily populated, informationally dense environment, regular armed forces (including the ADF) now face an enormously varied and lethal range of both state and non-state threats. As Benny Johanson notes in this paper, the explosion of electronic connectivity since the turn of the century and the resulting rise in …

Leadership and Ethics in 2040 Introduction The Australian Defence Force (ADF) ethos is derived from that of our broader society. And in turn, Australians define something at the core of national identity through the ADF. Australians are proud of the ADF and the ADF’s history. They need and want the ADF to represent the best of Australian values. And Australians will be direct in telling the ADF if we have let them down. [i] The year is 2040 and Australia is again at war. Corporal or Lieutenant Smith, an …

Report on Applied Research Directions and Future Opportunities for Swarm Systems in Defence The Australian Government’s 2020 Force Structure Plan outlined a total package of capability investment of approximately $200 billion over the next decade (2020). This expenditure will equip Defence to meet challenges in the future with new investments in strike platforms, littoral assets, helicopters, information effects, logistics resilience, and emerging robotics and autonomous systems. The 2018 Army Robotics and …