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The Australian Department of Defence has long sought to achieve a clear margin of military superiority against any credible adversary through manipulating advanced military technology. In recent years, networkcentric warfare has appeared to offer a range of operational advantages to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) through the process of linking sensors to shooters across the battlespace. These advantages include the creation of a robustly networked force that improves information-sharing, facilitates …

The body is the first and most natural tool of man. - Marcel Maus It is often said that science fiction is a genre of cognitive estrangement, a combination of the cognitive (the rational, scientific) and estrangement (translated as alienation from the familiar and the every-day). Yet most science fiction writing is an extension, or extrapolation, of the present. If science fiction were concerned only with estrangement, we would not understand it. If it were only about cognition, it would be a work of …

Australia’s December 2000 Defence White Paper outlined a strategic posture dictated by two major imperatives. The first imperative was defence of the Australian continent and the second imperative was the need to participate in efforts to uphold global security. Since the al-Qa’ida terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States and the Bali bombings of October 2002, the two imperatives have become intertwined. Participation in maintaining global security is now closely enmeshed with upholding …

Aremarkable change in the general thrust of Australian defence policy has occurred in the past eight years. In 1996, Australia’s defence policy revolved around the Navy and Air Force defending the northern sea–air gap as if it were a moat. The Army’s role was peripheral to the latter task and was confined to dealing with those enemy combatants that succeeded in penetrating the continental landmass. For a trade-dependent nation such as Australia, the concept of a continental- style defence policy ignored …

The swift and overwhelming nature of the initial warfighting phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom has prompted some defence experts to proclaim the arrival of a new way of war designed around Effects-based Operations (EBO). In essence, such operations seek to move away from an attrition and linear approach to warfare. In an effects-based philosophy, campaign planning seeks to identify the outcomes that are required from fighting and then to derive the means required to achieve such outcomes. This article …

‘The manoeuvrist approach ... concentrates on the judicious massing of effects rather than massing of physical force.’ - Australian Army, Future Land Warfare 2032 (1999) Carl von Clausewitz’s insight that war is a free and creative act resting on a clash of wills reflects an enduring reality of war, namely that antagonists always seek to exploit their perceived strengths and weaknesses in order to try to impose control. Modern defence forces in general, and armies in particular, usually apply force as a …

The recovery of isolated American and coalition personnel has been one of the highest priorities of successive US military and political leaders throughout the 20th century. Since the advent of the helicopter, combat search and rescue techniques, and personnel recovery doctrine have been based on conventional military principles. American dominance in conventional warfare, however, encourages potential adversaries to pursue asymmetric approaches to combat. Until recently, there was a perception that the …

On 11 September 2001, the world’s perception of warfare changed. The al-Qa’ida terrorist attacks on the United States were not launched against an individual country as much as a particular system of values and beliefs. Recognising this reality, countries around the world, including Australia, joined a coalition in order to fight a ‘War against Terror’. The attacks of 11 September were an example of an asymmetric warfare strategy that integrated three types of political violence: terror, suicide and mass …

The appointment of Land Commander, Australia, carries with it responsibility for the command of over 25 000 troops and a requirement to deliver ground forces in sufficient time and in proper order for both national and international operations as directed by the Australian Government. Furthermore, the Australian Land Commander may be directed to take responsibility for managing military forces on behalf of the country’s senior operational-level commander, Commander, Australian Theatre. On many occasions …

Although infantry commanders throughout the Marine Corps have now had an opportunity to see the combat effectiveness of light-armoured infantry (USMC LAV regiment now titled Light-armoured Regiment) units through the full range of conflict intensity ... many do not understand the mission, function, capabilities, limitations or proper methods of LAI employment. - Captain J. J. Maxwell, US Marine Corps, ‘LAI: Impressions from SWA’, Marine Corps Gazette , August 1991. On the subject of light armour, the …