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Today sees the release of a new Occasional Paper, Littoral Operations for the Australian Army—Theory and Principles . The paper presents a comprehensive conceptual re‑evaluation of how the Australian Army can operate in the littoral: an environment where land, sea, air, space and cyber domains intertwine. It argues that Australia’s strategic circumstances and the accelerating evolution of long‑range, high‑precision weapons necessitates a fundamental shift in thinking. The Army must no longer view itself as …

Theory and Principles Introduction Fighting at, from and over the sea is one of the most challenging tasks a military force can undertake. It requires naval, land, air, space and, increasingly, cyber operations to work in concert. Such forces need to operate in one of the harshest environments on the planet, where the natural forces of sea and weather can prove as dangerous as any adversary. Logistics presents an entirely different set of problems than that of a purely terrestrial environment. Finally, the …

Following the military defeat of Islamic State (IS, ISIS, or Daesh ), very little has been publicly written of Australia’s experience and lessons from this campaign, termed Operation OKRA. In Occasional Paper 32 , Operation Okra Operational Analysis , author, Dr Andrew Maher, takes aim at this gap and in so doing, seeks to help policymakers and practitioners understand proxy conflict that emerges in the broader context of strategic competition. Some might take exception to the portrayal of Operation OKRA …

The Story of Wartime Kyiv   Bloomsbury Publishing , 2024, ISBN 9781639733873, 288 pp, (AUD) $35.99 (hardback) AUTHOR: Illia Ponomarenko REVIEWED BY: John Nash Many books have been written about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Illia Ponomarenko is a well-known and well-regarded Ukrainian journalist who has covered Ukraine’s conflict with Russia for many years, including before the full-scale invasion. I Will Show You How it Was is a very personal account of the build up to invasion, and as the …

Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 34, Surf and Turf Operations , by Joshua Higgins The 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) directs the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to optimise for littoral manoeuvre within Australia’s primary area of military interest (PAMI), in response to great power competition and reduced warning times. This strategic environment demands innovative approaches that offset Australia’s vulnerabilities in mass and technology through asymmetry —leveraging strengths against adversary …

Cavalry’s Role in Delivering Asymmetric Effects in the Littoral Domain ‘Force intact. Still fighting. Badly need boots, quinine, money, and Tommy-gun ammunition.’ – 2nd Independent Company Transmission to Australian Northern Force Headquarters, 1942 Introduction The 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) directs the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to optimise for littoral manoeuvre in Australia’s primary area of military interest (PAMI). This direction is made in the context of great power competition and …

Josh Higgins is a Royal Australian Armoured Corps Officer. He enjoys expanding his military history library, and occasionally reading from it. When he is not advocating that we should learn from our past mistakes, he is pondering when the Webb Ellis Cup will again grace Australia’s shores. … Joshua …

Some thoughts on the civil-military operations in Australia’s Second World War Borneo Campaign The Australian Army’s primary focus is warfighting, and rightly so, given the Army’s mission . However, ‘what happens after the fighting?’ This question is not one that most of us would often consider, even Royal Australian Engineer (RAE) officers such as myself. Yet perhaps we should. Even our more recent operational experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate a general lack of consideration as to ‘what …

Captain Marika Boelen , Royal Australian Engineers, is currently a project engineer at 19th Chief Engineer Works. She had a 15-year career as a land surveyor alongside her Army career until transferring to SERCAT 6 (permanent part-time) in 2025. As a SERCAT 5 officer, Captain Boelen had postings to the 3rd Field Squadron and Adelaide Universities Regiment. She deployed as a troop commander on Kangaroo Island during Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-20. … Marika …

The Chief of Army Essay Competition and Chauvel Prize 2026 Chief of Army Essay Competition   The release of the Defence Strategic Review (2023) and the National Defence Strategy (2024) has presented a new focus and a new set of challenges for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), and the Army in particular. After 25 years of peacekeeping and low-intensity conflict, the Army needs to prepare for high-intensity conflict, most likely in a changing littoral environment The theme of the 2026 Chauvel Prize is …