The Australian Army is in an exciting period of change and development. New strategic guidance and a generously funded force structure plan , coupled with the demand of senior leaders for change, presents opportunities for substantial enhancements to Army’s structure and capabilities. Seizing the opportunity requires innovative employment of emerging technologies grounded in real-world experience. This article will use the example of a Semi-Autonomous Combat Team concept to illustrate how disruptive …

Deterrence The Texas National Security Review have published a primer on Coercion Theory , including deterrence theory, and how it applies to contemporary geopolitics. This article has also been released in podcast format by Horns of a Dilemma . Major Power Competition Modern War Institute have released a podcast interview with Dr Jack Watling of RUSI, exploring the lessons being drawn from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . The interview focussed upon the surprisingly high level of attrition attained by …

In late September, the UK Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter launched the Integrated Operating Concept , a summary of which appeared in ETOs . This document and its launch are notable in the manner with which they articulate the threat perceived by the UK Ministry of Defence, and therefore warrant deeper analysis. Gen. Carter’s speech was hosted by General David Petraeus (ret.), available on Youtube ( here ), marked by a hawkish framing of contemporary conflict: ‘Our authoritarian rivals see …

Major Power Competition Jason Begley of the Air Power Development Centre offers a nuanced appreciation of Competitive Strategies in the Indo-Pacific , published through the Harvard Belfer Centre. This report is an extended read (approx. 2 hours) that anchors appreciation off an approach that ‘views strategic competition structurally – poised atop a hierarchy made up of smaller competitions, which are themselves comprised of discrete, single-issue contexts.’ This analysis leverages the approach taken in the …

Deterrence The UK Chief of General Staff (CGS), General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, spoke on 29 Sep about how the UK Army is prepared for the challenges of the future. The full speech is available here , with the following quote being of note: “It is the capability to war-fight which provides the credibility to underpin a form of flexible modern deterrence – ensuring resilience in defence and unpredictability in offence – and it is this capability that drives our competitors to operate in the shadows.” This …

Deterrence Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. John Hyten recorded a presentation for the National Defence University about the ongoing relevance of deterrence. Gen Hyten spoke to deterrence as a component of the forthcoming U.S. Joint Warfighting Concept, which will be enabled by four underlying concepts: joint contested logistics, all-domain command and control, joint fires and information advantage. Major Power Competition Foreign Policy has analysed a Finland Ministry of Defence …

Reviewed by Major Andrew Maher By Alexander Watson, Penguin Random House, UK, 2019, ISBN 9780241309063, 246pp Australian audiences tend to associate the military challenges of the First World War with Gallipoli, Belgium and France but, a century on, a broader aperture is necessary. On the Eastern Front, the Habsberg army was meant to hold the Russians at bay, allowing the German army to shift its weight of effort to achieving decisive victory through the Schifflen Plan in the west, before rebalancing its …

Deterrence Dr Cathy Moloney of the Australian Defence College drew attention this week toward hypersonic weapons and how they might play a role in an Australian deterrence strategy. Dr Moloney argues that ‘the recent successful testing of Russian hypersonic missiles means that this is not an abstract conversation… but a real threat that would be… used as a coercive tool to change great power politics in our region.’ Major Power Competition A report by the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG), John Hopkins …

In my early days as a Trainee Army Officer, I often found myself wanting a better grasp of how all the elements and levels of warfare fitted together. The Joint Military Education and Training program at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) focused on strategy. Conversely, the concurrent Single Service Training periods at the Royal Military College, Duntroon (RMC), dealt almost exclusively with tactics. With a lack of military experience, I did not truly understand how tactical actions nested within …

This is part two of an adaptation of the author’s essay entitled Moral injury and the gap between the soldier and the state’s moral identity, which placed third in the ADF Officer’s category of the 2019 Jamie Cullens Defence Essay Competition. The original can be viewed in full on The Forge’s website here . Moral Injury Part One provided leading clinical definitions of Moral Injury, prior to framing it within the morality of a society and individuals’ moral identity. It also highlighted one of the ways in …