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The Battle of Minden, 1759, and its Place in the Seven Years War By Ewan Carmichael Helion , Warwick, 2021, 265pp 9780733637292 - Paperback 9780733637308 - eBook Reviewed by BRIG Chris Roberts AM, CSC (Retd.) The Battle of Minden is noted for the extraordinary performance of a single British infantry brigade, a feat still celebrated by six successor infantry regiments and two Royal Artillery batteries of the British Army. In recounting this remarkable battle, and its place in the Seven Years War …

Rethinking Army’s Organisation The Defence Strategic Update (DSU) of 2020 highlighted that “[m]ajor power competition, coercion and military modernisation are increasing the potential for and consequences of miscalculation” [i] . Competition between great powers has always risked state on state conflict and the DSU reminds us of this. Since Federation, Australia’s defence thinking has been heavily influenced by competition and conflict between states. Australia’s commitment to both World Wars shaped Army’s …

To Deter and Respond to Invasion ‘In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity’ Sun Tzu Introduction Modern history depicts some decisive military trends. Among these, counter-insurgency wars are inherently unpopular, demonstrably costly and, for the most part, unsuccessful. If this is the case, it follows that Australia’s Defence policy must include layers of defence that guarantee sovereignty and that capitalise on the asymmetric advantage traditionally experienced by insurgent forces. Specifically, …

In April, the AARC launched a ‘ Short Thoughts Competition ’. The purpose was to encourage authors to communicate ideas about land power to Army’s senior leadership and a wide range of readers, and in the process help to inform and shape Army’s future, under the theme of ‘Transforming Land Power’.  The number and quality of responses reflected positively on the authors’ willingness to take on the challenge of helping to shape Army’s future.  Contributors ranged from current serving to retired ADF members, …

Land Power and the Future Littoral Environment The future operations for which Australian land power will be required will almost certainly fall within the Indo-Pacific region. Thus, the future of land power will be in the littoral environment. This will require an Army ready to conduct dispersed operations across a number of coastlines and islands, acting independently or in concert. Above all, this will require integration into the joint environment, working with sea and air power as part of a holistic …

Domestic security operations cannot be separated from the conduct of operations offshore. The increased reach of enemies allows them to attack targets directly in the homeland ……and involves not only protection of militarily important targets but also actions to deny the enemy the ability to strike civilian targets. [1] 23 March 2022 marked a step change in military thinking. State-on-state conflict was back in Europe.  Advanced, peer competitors slugged it out in the forests and cities of Ukraine with …

I met a representative of our future land power just last month. She served me at the checkout at my local Woolworths. Glancing at her name tag, I asked her what she had planned for the weekend. She proceeded to tell me, with immense energy, about the steps she was taking to ensure that she would be joining the Australian Army at the end of the year when she finished high school. She described in vibrant detail, with no further prompt from me, how she was going to crew Army’s next-generation armoured …

Abstract: This submission proposes modifying the Honeywell Aerospace AGT1500 gas turbine in the M1A2 Abrams MBT, and other reciprocating piston diesel engines used by the ADF, to allow them to burn Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as fuel in addition to diesel (dual fuel).  The purpose is to secure a homogenous liquid fuel source in times of constrained supply chain circumstance, such as prolonged armed conflict. Additional dividends could be extracted by utilising the waste cold energy created during the …

  John P. Kotter , the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at the Harvard Business School, argues that successful transformation requires time to succeed, usually measured in years. Kotter emphasises that successfully transformation includes eight distinct stages, worked through in sequence. [i] The success of any given stage of transformation depends on the work done in previous stages. A critical mistake, or skipping a step, in any of the stages, can have a devastating impact. Kotter …

2022 AARC Short Thoughts Competition Australia’s strategic environment is complex, increasingly contested, and rapidly evolving. Major power competition, militarisation, disruptive technological change and new threats pose challenges to Australia’s national security. These developments test Army’s capacity to generate highly trained, disciplined and fit tactical units; preserve its capacity to operate within the joint force; while simultaneously delivering Army forces in support of the national interest …