Welcome to the Australian Army’s Land Power Forum and the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC) website . The Forum is a place for writers – and readers – to describe or consider the future of the Australian Army. It has also been a gateway to other research products developed by or for the AARC. These include: the Australian Army Journal, Occasional Papers and Research Reports, and the proceedings of seminars and other events. Most importantly, the Forum has been a way in which authors can engage with …

The economy is going through its most significant economic crisis since the Great Depression, nearly 90 years ago. This crisis has exposed the Australian economy’s structural weaknesses, and consequently, brought the issue of the military’s own long-term financial resilience into focus. From the military’s perspective, the relevant question is ‘ what comes next ’. Specifically, the military needs to confront two critically important questions: How will this ongoing economic crisis impact the military’s own …

How can we generate more land capability mass at less cost? The Chief of Army has asked us to think differently. My earlier article challenged the assumption that only a full-time organisation can deliver ‘high-end’ competencies for modern warfare fighting – using the example of the Swiss militia army of the Cold War.   This article looks at a very different part-time force. The British Territorial Army (TA) of the Cold War received less formal training than the contemporary Australian reserve, yet it was …

Global demographic trends and urbanisation are combining to increase the size and density of cities… Conflict will be fought underground, in jungles, swamps, deserts, mountains and wherever people are, and increasingly in urban and littoral areas, the electromagnetic spectrum and the cyber and information domains. Army’s Contribution to Defence Strategy , Edition 2, pages 18-20. Reflecting common consensus, empirical evidence and even vicarious experience (Mosul, Marawi), the Australia Army’s most recent …

This is the fifth blog in a series benchmarking the French Army – the armée de Terre. To date, this series has ‘benchmarked’ the armée de Terre , its culture , its structure and its people capability . This post will analyse the French Army’s approach to training. In doing so, it will highlight points of convergence relevant to the increasingly important Army/armée de Terre partnership. The author currently serves as Army’s Liaison Officer to the armée de Terre in France. Many are familiar with the proverb …

Part 1 of this series made the case that humanities and social sciences (HASS) and management disciplines are indispensable for the long-term effectiveness of military planning. They greatly complement STEM capabilities and help make military plans more relevant and robust. This second article in the series explores the pervasive antipathy towards these disciplines in the Australian public discourse, and the implications of this for the Australian military. As was explained in Part 1 of this series , STEM …

This is the sixth blog in a series on benchmarking the French Army – the armée de Terre. To date, this series has ‘benchmarked’ the armée de Terre , its culture , its structure , its people capability  and its approach to training . This post will analyse the French Army’s modernisation program. In doing so, it will highlight points relevant to the increasingly important Army/armée de Terre partnership. The author currently serves as Army’s Liaison Officer to the armée de Terre in France. An …

This edition of ETOs seeks to promote readings the AARC team recommend for assisting Army to adapting to future threats and opportunities. We deliberately span a range of topics and aim to provide enough time to order books of interest prior to the Christmas holidays. Happy reading! Resilience   Philip H. Gordon, Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East , Oct 2020. This book is a clinical review of United States’ efforts to affect regime change in the Middle East since …

The Australian military should strive for a balanced skills strategy, which augments STEM capabilities with humanities, social sciences, and management disciplines. Any military is only as good as its people, platforms and partnerships – its veritable ‘Strategic Trinity’. However, the effects of these are not uniform, with people exerting a disproportionately significant impact on its long-term effectiveness. The calibre of the people – and their overall skills, training and experience – not only shapes …

At last, the Army’s watercraft replacement project is gaining traction. Land 8710 Army Littoral Manoeuvre promises to replace the Army’s archaic LCM-8 and LARC-5 small boats. In addition, the replacement of the decommissioned LCH Balikpapan Class amphibious vessels is receiving serious consideration. To say that this progress is overdue is to minimise the ancientness of these craft — they entered service earlier than the eldest of serving soldiers. There was a time when the Army’s establishment contained …