Over the past 100 years, the manner in which the infantry battalion is employed has undergone revolutionary change— something that is not always appreciated by those who regard the infantry as the unskilled labour force of the battlefield. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. This paper discusses the implications of the transition from relatively unskilled mass industrial-age infantry to the information-age specialists who dominate the modern battlespace. Oddly, these changes have not been …

   Foreword ‘Understanding the best use of autonomous systems will ultimately be what separates militaries that capitalise [sic] on the advantage of autonomous systems from those that do not.’ The use of advanced and networked technologies on the battlefield is increasing, and future warfighting is expected to centre on human-machine teams in both the physical and virtual sense. Army’s Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Strategy V2.0 articulates how Army aspires to leverage emerging technology such as …

FOREWORD Our region is entering an increasingly challenging strategic environment. In response, it is the responsibility of all ADF members to be alert to the implications of current and emerging threats and their relevance to the military’s ability to deliver capability, where and when it is needed, in support of Australia’s national interests. As the ADF’s instrument of land power. Army needs to be willing to engage intellectually with the questions central to its contribution to the joint force, and how …

Welcome to the sixth issue of Future Land Warfare Branch’s Spotlight Brief from the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC). This issue has a particular emphasis on issues relating to robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) in addition to its usual areas of interest. RAS forms a vital part of the Australian Army as it modernises to meet the challenges brought on by accelerated warfare where the rate of change of technology is increasing. The Army RAS Strategy 2019 and the ADF Concept for Future Robotics and …

Army MakerSpace is an Army program with the aim to improve the cognitive ability of Army Personnel through creativity and non-traditional ways of thinking, coupled with the delivery of ‘Maker skills’ within the MakerSpace site/facility. FAQs Who is MakerSpace for? MakerSpace is not just for Technical People. MakerSpace is for all Army. It is about learning to think differently, solve problems and learn through making. Through the training anyone can come along to make and learn. What can I do at the …

An Operational Overview of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine February-June 2022 Abstract This Spotlight brief describes the events of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, part of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. This analysis is in three parts: first, it examines the broad composition of the Russian and Ukrainian Armed Forces; second, it discusses the first phase of the invasion from February-April outlining the major operational level actions; and third, it discusses the invasion’s second phase covering …

The Strategic Circumstances of the Russo-Ukraine War Introduction As the origin of its name implies, ‘borderland’,1 Ukraine has long served as a buffer state between Eastern and Western Europe. Its history reflects the continued and often violent contest for its allegiance, if not ownership. Ukraine’s importance has been recently underscored by its invasion on 24 February 2022 by the Russian Armed Forces. This was a significant escalation of the conflict which commenced with Russia’s annexation of the …

Foreword The Australian soldier has a well-earned reputation for expertise in counter-insurgency. Perhaps this reputation is born from Australia’s experience of the Malayan Emergency, the Borneo Confrontation or the Vietnam War; and it was probably sustained through United Nations deployments as peacekeepers within generally fractured societies. Regardless of its genesis, this collection of papers responds to this tradition, by focussing academic inquiry into the irregular form of warfare. Examination of …

Evolving Australian and Allied Special Operations Forces to Fight and Win in the Chaos Foreword The contemporary conflict environment is complex, cluttered and highly connected. In an urbanised, heavily populated, informationally dense environment, regular armed forces (including the ADF) now face an enormously varied and lethal range of both state and non-state threats. As Benny Johanson notes in this paper, the explosion of electronic connectivity since the turn of the century and the resulting rise in …

The purpose of this paper is to highlight key trends and challenges to the Army in order to inform force design, structure and posture decisions. It considers emergent challenges faced by Australia and assesses their implications for the Army’s future concepts, force structure and narrative. This paper is oriented towards the impact of the summer bushfire season, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ramifications of these events within the geostrategic environment. The impact of the pandemic has yet to fully …