Lessons from IDF/Hamas’s conflict of 2021 The use of conventional anti-air defence system by Israel against rockets emanating from the Palestinian controlled region of the Gaza city, cannot be mistaken for a conventional response against an adversary’s rocket attack. The Israel’s response may have been perceived by the international community to be merely conventional, but the use of emerging technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) to anticipate targets and identify possible rocket battery …

Studies in British Military History   By Brian Bond Helion , Solihull, 2015, 978-1-9107-7757-2, 238pp. Reviewed by Brigadier Chris Roberts AM, CSC (Retd)   Covering a diverse range of subjects, this splendid book presents a selection of Professor Brian Bond’s insightful and thought provoking essays from a long academic career in war studies. Highly readable, the essays represent scholarship of the highest order that command respect and consideration irrespective of one’s views on each of the topics …

One of the most effective techniques employed by the ADF for the detection of explosive materials is the use of explosive detection dogs (EDDs). Despite the advancements in explosive detection instrumentation, the use of EDDs has remained a reliable method to detect explosives due to the dogs’ capacity to discriminate a wide range of vapours, along with the accompanying high sensitivity of their olfactory system. However, the long-term reliance on EDDs has led to increased scrutiny of canine explosive …

Welcome to the Australian Army’s Land Power Forum (LPF) and the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC) website . The Forum is a place for writers – and readers – to consider the future of the Australian Army and the use of ‘land power’ within the constellation of joint capabilities. It is also an important gateway to other research products developed by or for the AARC, and the Army’s Future Land Warfare Branch. These include:  the Australian Army Journal , Occasional Papers and Research Reports , and the …

In conversation with 3ME at ARX 2021 2021 marked the inaugural year of the Quantum Technology Challenge (QTC 2021) and Army Robotics Exposition (ARX 2021) which featured static and live demonstrations from industry representatives and Army’s Future Land Warfare Branch. The Australian Army hosted the landmark event over 19 - 20 April 2021 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and highlighted the latest Australian-led technology, partnerships, innovation and people. At the ARX 2021, the Robotic & …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems: Organisational and Political Consequences The Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence – Jun 2021 Paul Dumouchel is interested in how Autonomous Weapon Systems will change Army’s ability to project power, affect the composition of armed forces, and affect the power relationships within them. He makes several thought-provoking observations related to Army structure and force design more broadly. A …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Accountability and Control of Autonomous Weapon Systems: A Framework for Comprehensive Human Oversight Minds and Machines – Aug 2020 The emergence of Autonomous Weapon Systems has led to increased academic and societal interest in the concepts of accountability and responsibility. Considerable focus has been on accountability gap that will facilitate a lack of criminal liability and moral responsibility. The authors of this paper attempt …

Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 10 Will the military modernisation measures that Army takes today prepare our ADF men and women for the leadership and ethical challenges of tomorrow?  In AARC Occasional Paper 10 , we stand in the shoes of soldier Smith facing the prospect of their first combat operation in 2024.  This Land Power Forum article is an abstract from that Paper. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) ethos is derived from that of our broader society. And in turn, Australians define something …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Global Networks 2030: Developing Economies and Emerging Technologies Centre for Strategic and International Studies – Mar 2021 Strategic competition in global communications is intensifying. the Centre for Strategic and International Studies has produced this report to help policymakers chart a strategic course regarding developing economies and emerging communications technologies. Hillman and Rivas core contention is that the United …

“The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men’s experience), i.e. the hard way. By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men.” (MAJGEN J Mattis, DIA Reading List 2018) In the conduct of urban warfare, the basic principles have changed little, and slowly, over the last century.  Yet there remains no great classical works to …