This is the fourth 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 and its structure . This post will analyse the French Army’s people capability. 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. Like most armies, including our own, the French Army …

Resilience ETOs had previously reported upon the acceleration of digital technology adoption in Australia as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A report from Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, reports similar accelerated change in South-East Asia, with an additional 40 million internet users in 2020, bringing the region to approximately 70% population adoption. Major Power Competition The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has settled into a Russian-brokered ceasefire , allowing examination of the lessons of the …

Reviewed by Dr Albert Palazzo By Sean McFate, William Morrow, New York, 2019, ISBN 978-0-06-284358-6, pp.318 Reviewers hesitate to recommend a book too enthusiastically because of the risk that readers will assume one is a friend of the author or that you suffer from a tendency to exaggerate. I can assure the readers of this review that I have never met Sean McFate, the author of The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder , and no one has ever accused me of exaggeration. Therefore, when I …

Introduction Army Headquarters – Future Land Warfare Branch, through the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC), have recently supported the establishment of innovative, practical prototyping spaces that are essential for imbuing the modern Army with the Creative Thinking culture necessary to succeed in a world increasingly reliant on technology. One such Makerspace will soon be inaugurated at Holsworthy Barracks, where it will serve as an opportunity for soldiers to physically express solutions to the …

Reviewed by Major Marshall Lawrence By Qiao Liang , Wang Xiangsui, People’s Liberation Army Literature and Arts Publishing House, 1999, ISBN 978-1626543058, 212pp Understanding the conceptual foundations of Chinese military thought is important for placing present Chinese actions into context and analysing what might come next. One of the most accessible and frequently cited primary sources translated to English is Unrestricted Warfare . Its influence and contents should therefore be of interest to many. …

Reviewed by Major Andrew Maher By Caroline Moorehead, CHATTO & WINDUS - TRADE, 2019, ISBN 9781784741402, 416pp Recent discussion of the phenomenon of ‘Hybrid Warfare’ belies the history of war as a mixture of politics, deception and espionage, civilian mobilisation into irregular formations and conventional manoeuvre. World War II was typical of this mixture, particularly so in the Italian campaign. Yet, while Operation Husky (the amphibious landings in Sicily), Operation Shingle (the landings at Anzio), …

Resilience Colonel Mark Armstrong has published for the AARC an occasional paper examining the Implications of the Army Reserve call out for Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020 . This occasional paper explores resultant issues pertaining to improved national resilience to natural disasters. RAND have released a study examining the need for military and local government collaboration for climate adaptation. This report explores the case study of the impact of sea level rises on the Hampton Roads cluster of …

Resilience The AARC Quarter 3 Strategic Assessment has been published, which acknowledges resilience as an emerging theme relevant to land power’s contribution to Australian Defence Strategy. The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements recommends a ‘fundamental shift in strategic thinking about national disaster management. If there were one word that encapsulates this shift, it would be ‘resilience.’’ The Royal Commission’s report highlights that 33 people died, over 3,000 homes were …

Colonel Mark Armstrong’s Australian Army Occasional Paper ‘Every Possible Capability: Some Implications of the Army Reserve Call Out for Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020’ can now be downloaded from the Australian Army Research Library here . Read on below for an abstract of the paper. During the latter months of 2019 and the new year of 2020, Australia experienced catastrophic and widespread bushfires. As the situation worsened, the federal government unexpectedly called out the Australian Defence Force …

Major Power Competition The October 2020 edition of PRISM from National Defense University is focussed upon Great Power Competition. Two articles address the competition for influence in Africa which argue for sustained presence that mitigates the risk of losing influence on the continent. Similarly, the recently commenced Journal of Future Conflict (Fall 2020 edition) from Queens University in Canada takes a comparable orientation. Of note, the Journal of Future Conflict includes articles from David …