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Introduction On May 8, 1864, Ulysses S Grant’s Union soldiers clashed with the Confederate troops of Robert E Lee at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on the road to Richmond. For the next two weeks the two sides fought it out as Union soldiers braved the fire swept ground that separated the two armies to close with the Rebels. Thousands fell in the attempt. A few weeks later, the process repeated itself at the even bloodier Battle of Cold Harbor. Today’s commanders face a challenge similar to that …

Volumes are devoted to armament; pages to inspiration. George S Patton [1] The Australian Army’s replacement or enhancement of its equipment and the introduction into service of new technologies is a continuous process that consumes the labour of hundreds of staff across several organisations. The starting point for this modernisation effort is the Army’s Land Capability Division whose personnel guide nine Army programs through various gates on behalf of the Chief of Army, the end-point being the …

Land Forces 2018 was great. I just wanted to state my position clearly and up front. I also must disclose that I was a part – admittedly a very small part - of the organisation that put the event together, but my use of the word ‘great’ represents no bias or exaggeration on my part. Being great, however, doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been better, nor that we shouldn’t strive for better for 2020. My focus in the first of these two posts was on reinventing Land Forces as a ‘festival’ in order to engage new …

Land Forces 2018 was a success... but what's next? Dr Albert Palazzo asks what the future of the exposition might look like.   I have attended many Land Forces expositions in my time with Army. The one that just finished was, in my opinion, the best I have witnessed. [1]  The Adelaide Convention Centre pulsed with energy as soldiers, defence civilians and trade-folk discussed the wares on display. The Chief of Army Land Forces Seminar – held in conjunction with the Land Forces 2018 exposition (or Land …

The armour wheels in a perfectly executed turn worthy of a mounted squadron as mortar bombs and 155 shells blast a nearby hill and a Tiger races in for the kill. It’s Chong Ju, the Australian Army’s annual blast fest when Puckapunyal Range reverberates to the sound of explosions. Indeed, it is a blast, literally to the ears and figuratively to one’s pride as the nation’s land force demonstrates what it was designed to do to a military, media and defence stakeholder audience. Every year the exercise is …

The Land Power Forum papers,  The canon and four generations of warfare Parts 1, 2 and 3 , [1]  note that in June 2004, the writer William S. Lind published an article titled  Two Marine Corps  [one the manoeuvre warfare Marine Corps, the second the programs, budgets and policy Marine Corps], which introduced the idea of  the canon  to military professionals: …the seven books [that]…take the reader from the first generation of modern war through the second and third generations and into the fourth. [2] …

The Land Power Forum papers,  The canon and four generations of warfare Parts 1 and 2 , [1]  note that in June 2004, the writer William S. Lind published an article titled  Two Marine Corps  [one the manoeuvre warfare Marine Corps, the second the programs, budgets and policy Marine Corps], which introduced the idea of  the canon  to military professionals: …the seven books [that]…take the reader from the first generation of modern war through the second and third generations and into the fourth. [2] This …

The 2016 Land Power Forum paper,  The canon and four generations of warfare , [1]  notes that in June 2004, the writer William S. Lind published an article titled  Two Marine Corps  [one the manoeuvre warfare Marine Corps, the second the programs, budgets and policy Marine Corps], which introduced the idea of  the canon  to military professionals: …the seven books [that]…take the reader from the first generation of modern war through the second and third generations and into the fourth. [2] This paper …

This paper shares planning observations from 3rd Brigade Headquarters Forward during Exercise Hamel, June - July 2016. These planning observations are summarised as  Three Cs : Communicate Command, control and battlespace Concurrent planning Context As Army’s Reset Brigade from June 2015 until July 2016, 3rd Brigade enabled Exercise Hamel Exercise Control and provided a command and control node at Cultana Field Training Area, South Australia. The 3rd Brigade’s command and control node was assigned under …

The word  canon  originated from Greek as  kanōn  (rule). Today, one definition of  canon  is ‘the list of works considered to be permanently established as being of the highest quality’. [1] In June 2004, the writer William S. Lind published an article titled  Two Marine Corps  [one the manoeuvre warfare Marine Corps, the second the programs, budgets and policy Marine Corps], which introduced the idea of  the canon  to military professionals: … the seven books [that]…take the reader from the first …