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Abstract Successive Defence White Papers have emphasised the need for an effective amphibian deployment and sustainment system involving Army, Navy and Air Force assets to project force across Australia’s primary operating environment. Australia is purchasing two ships capable of carrying significant amounts of equipment, but further investments of both money and professional resources will be essential to develop an effective force package capable of the full suite of amphibious tasks. Lessons can be …

Abstract Change within our society and primary operating environment has reached exponential levels. The requirement to create an adaptive Army was recognised early this century and Army has been working to create a cultural shift that will make it more effective in its current endeavours. The key catalyst to enable an adaptive Army is agile commanders who have the freedom of action to adapt and overcome. This article examines the methods that software engineers and project managers use to solve non linear …

Abstract This article suggests that the ADF should seek to adopt a standard organisation for infantry battalions, based on manpower and organisation, rather than conditions dictated by manning equipment. The aim of this article is to propose one type of infantry battalion for the Australian Defence Force. One type of infantry battalion would greatly simplify organisation, manning, and refocus thinking toward the fact that infantry are human beings to whom the army gives equipment, and are not simply there …

ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) inexorably connected Australia and New Zealand with these words: It was eighteen minutes past four (5:48am Afghanistan time) on the morning of Sunday, 25th April [1915], when the first boat grounded... the men leapt into the water, and the first of them had just reached the beach when fire was opened on them from the trenches on the foothills which rise immediately from the beach. 1 This ANZAC action occurred at Gallipoli, Turkey, which is approximately 4000 …

Abstract To communicate effectively, one must write clearly. To write clearly, one must think clearly. To succeed in battle, one also must communicate effectively and think clearly. So one would think Army would place a premium on clarity of expression. Yet there is abundant evidence in the pages of this Journal that the clarity of military writing is in sharp decline. Why this might be so, and what can be done about it, is the subject of this article. I have read every issue of the Australian Army Journal …

For my generation, there is one profession that captures our imagination more than any other: Entrepreneur. This is especially true of those leaving the military and going to business school. It would seem logical for the military to find ways to blend the best of entrepreneurial and combat cultures in ventures like a joint Harvard Business School/Naval War College degree program. Yet, in reality, the very word entrepreneur is met with blank stares by career service members—and in some cases, viewed as an …

Abstract The complexity of the future battlespace will consistently require more and more from our junior leaders. The more is our junior leader’s ability to apply their leadership and skills across all Five Lines of Operation and to transition very quickly between them as required by Adaptive Campaigning . This means they must fully commit to prevailing in one line while thinking about the next. More so than ever we must be aware of the need to shape and develop our people. Adaptive Campaigning - Future …

The Australian Army currently conducts individual training for soldiers, non-commissioned officers, warrant officers and officers in two forms: ‘All Corps Training’ and ‘Corps Specific Training’. As my authorities extend only over the All Corps Soldier and Officer Training Continuums, it is there that I will focus my encapsulation of that aspect of Army’s professional military education. The All Corps Soldier and Officer Training Continuums provide the foundation warfighting knowledge, skills and attitudes …

Abstract ‘Accelerated Warfare’ describes both the operating environment and how the land force must respond. The changing character of war requires a shift in traditional attitudes towards land force operations and an approach that is unhindered by dated frameworks, in particular the belief in the absolutes of ‘war’ and ‘peace’. This is most apparent in the information environment in which the land force is least comfortable yet can most effectively target decision-making and the will of the people. …

Abstract Strategic brinkmanship, the preparedness to take a country to the edge of war without having to ultimately do so, has a powerful historical basis in the United States and China and is on the rise between those nations in the Indo-Pacific. Although their competition is multifaceted, the most significant security risk for Australia appears likely to play out in the race for technologically sophisticated autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (A/AI), where risk-taking could confer a decisive …