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  Introduction As the world lurches from one crisis to another, lessons learned from past crises are easily forgotten. In this vein, we can draw useful insights from Operation COVID-19 Assist (OCA) for future domestic operations and for their wider relevance to issues concerning operational readiness. Indeed, the shifting strategic climate referenced in the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) begs the question whether the Australian Defence Force (ADF) should be involved in a domestic emergency on the scale of …

Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence   by Paul Scharre W.W. Norton , 2023, 473 pp Hardcover ISBN 9780393866865 Paperback ISBN: 9781324074779 REVIEWED BY: John Nash   There are few hotter topics in military and strategic studies (and economics, technology, and more) than artificial intelligence (AI). Like with all new technology, commentary runs from the hyperbolic to the scornful. Finding the true promise is often difficult, and perhaps especially so with as polarising a technology as AI, not least …

American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict   by Elbridge A. Colby Yale University Press , 2021. pp 384 Hardcover ISBN: 0300256434 Paperback ISBN: 0300268025 Reviewed By : Courtney Stewart   Since its 2021 release, Elbridge Colby’s The Strategy of Denial remains a critical contribution to defence strategists grappling with the evolving complexities of China’s growing assertiveness, great power competition in the Indo-Pacific and the role of allies within these dynamics. The Strategy of Denial argues …

The War Diary of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes   by Geoffrey Keyes, edited by James W. Holsinger Jr University Press of Kentucky , Lexington, 2024,  459 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9780813198712 Reviewed By: Chris Roberts   Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes, a 1913 graduate of the United States Military Academy, saw active service in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations during the Second World War, and later served in occupied Germany and occupied Austria. During the North African Campaign, from November …

QNG23 Challenge Outcomes This post continues a series on quantum technologies. It details outcomes and findings from the Army Quantum Next Generation Minesweeper Challenge 2023 . Landmines and buried ordinances pose a significant danger in warzones, extending through active conflict and lingering as a threat in the aftermath. Finding and clearing landmines is both a valuable military capability and a humanitarian tool. Existing methods of minefield clearance are slow and dangerous, relying on ground teams …

The advent of widely available Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Meta AI, represents the most significant advance in AI to date. This new technology presents new risks too. Well-known examples include bias, hallucination, theft of intellectual property (IP), and lack of transparency. [1] These dangers certainly raise questions over the suitability of using LLMs in the military.  To date, security experts have mainly focused on the risks of this new AI technology through the lens of …

The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine   by David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts Harper Collins, London, 2023, 444 pp ISBN 9780008567972 Reviewed By:  Adriaan van Staden   Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine is an expansive analysis of the evolution of global warfare since the end of World War Two. It delves into how conflicts, both large and small, have been transformed due to political, technological, and societal shifts, moving from state-on-state battles to asymmetric and hybrid …

Assessing Civilian Employer/Manager Support for Employees’ Part-time Military Service Over the past decade, there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of the Australian Army Reserves for Defence capability and greater utilisation of individual reservists and reserve units for major conflict deployments and humanitarian operations. However, as foreshadowed in the Australian Defence Strategic Review recommendation for “[a] comprehensive strategic review of the ADF Reserves…” there are …

On 8 August 2018, the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, released the Army’s Futures Statement for an Army in Motion - Accelerated Warfare. [1]  This paper articulates four imperatives for change, based on four alternate views, enabling Army’s consideration and implementation of Accelerated Warfare.  These alternate views are examples of the diversity of ideas available to Army as we consider Accelerated Warfare’s place in our dynamic futures. The four imperatives for change and four alternate …

The recently released Chief of Army’s statement,  Army in Motion , is a critically important document for the Army’s future, even if it appears neither remarkable nor awe-inspiring at a first glance. In its mundanity, however, it is exactly what Army needs to do. As a statement of intent for the entire force to embrace,  Army in Motion  is highly relevant for the future of land power in Australia. I for one am all in. As General Angus Campbell has observed, Australia is facing a  more disruptive future , …