As Army transforms to meet contemporary security challenges, it must optimise for littoral manoeuvre operations by the sea, land and air as part of the integrated force. Drawing on lessons from the ADF's operational history within the region and beyond, this volume of the Australian Army Journal applies focus to Australian operations in the littorals. Chief of Army’s Foreword On the morning of 4 September 1943, soldiers from the 9th Australian Division disembarked from landing craft and waded ashore on …

A Retrospective on the Coastal and Riverine Conflict in Vietnam   Editors: Thomas J. Cutler and Edward J. Marolda Naval Institute Press , 2023, 262 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9781557507839 Reviewed by Blair Tidey   The subject of this book is historically the most recent large-scale example of coastal and riverine warfare. Significantly, it covers a geographic region in which the Australian Army is most likely to use these capabilities, in cooperation, competition and conflict. While the specific historic context …

From 22 April to 06 May 2023, thirteen Australian Army members were lucky enough to attend Exercise STARCEVICH, an Australian Army Staff Ride focused on the WWII Oboe operations. With the assistance of a senior instructor and an expert historian, during these two weeks, we had the opportunity to study the relevant battlefields across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. We debated the successes and mistakes made during these battles and considered the implications for today’s Australian Army. Why Study the …

Enhancing Capability to Secure Urban Points of Entry Context Gaining and retaining a secure Air or Sea Point of Entry (POE), with existing capabilities is likely to be a personnel intensive task of greater than battle group size. This is because suitable POE will be urban and the consequent challenges of maintaining observation along a secure perimeter there, especially where there are surrounding dominating structures. Securing a POE is a critical Army enabling function for the Integrated Force to execute …

Army’s Role in the Strategy of Denial: Point of Entry Security in the Urban Littoral Environment Context The Defence Strategic Review (DSR) directs Army, as part of the multi-domain and cross domain Integrated Force , to contribute to the strategy of denial. The DSR lists several functions that the Integrated Force must be able to undertake to achieve this strategy and these can be usefully understood as part of a paradigm of ‘anti-access/area denial’ (A2/AD) [1] . Within them, Army – the generator of land …

The Question of Urban Perimeter Observation Post Numbers Context Gaining and retaining a secure Air or Sea Point of Entry (APOE/SPOE) is a critical Army enabling function for the Integrated Force to execute ‘anti-access/area denial’ (A2/AD) in the littoral as directed by the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) .  As explained by Dayton McCarthy in part two of this LPF series on littoral manoeuvre, projecting A2/AD systems and their logistics will almost invariably use a POE among urban terrain,.  Securing an …

‘The Primary area of Military Interest’ – Understanding the Urban Littoral Environment in the Near Region Context The 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR) states that ‘Australia’s army must be transformed and optimised for littoral manoeuvre’ as part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) transition from a balanced force to one focused on applying a strategy of denial. The ADF’s primary area of planning interest is to be the ‘immediate region encompassing the north-eastern Indian ocean through maritime …

The Question of Urban Position Minimum Strength Context Deploying a perimeter of detection, backed up by an appropriate response capability, is a key personnel-intensive requirement for gaining and retaining a secure Air or Sea Point of Entry (POE). As such, it is a critical Army enabling function for the Integrated Force to execute ‘anti-access/area denial’ (A2/AD) in the littoral as directed by the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) . Furthermore, almost invariably the POE will be urban, which means that any …

In part one , this Post examined the concept of littoral manoeuvre including its reference within the 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR) , the definition of the relevant terms and the capability of platforms used in the littoral domain. The article proposed that littoral manoeuvre should be a concept that represents the holistic capability of littoral manoeuvre vessels transporting land capabilities. As such, littoral manoeuvre is the use of the littoral to achieve positional advantage to influence the …

Littoral Manoeuvre is a major focus for this year’s research by the Australian Army Research Centre , a topic of the 2023 Chief of Army’s History Conference, and a core theme for  the next volume of the Australian Army Journal. Given its importance, this Land Power Forum post provides some background research regarding the term. It argues that the term ‘littoral’ reflects the projection of land power from the sea to the land, which in turn allows land capabilities to influence the sea. The use of the term …