US Army Engineers in World War II   by Chris McNab Casemate Publishers , 2023, 194 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9781636243863 Digital download: 9781636243870 Reviewed by Nicholas Bosio It is easy to say that military professionals should study military history, and the underlying theory of our profession, through the lens of context, width, and depth. Yet, how does one study depth ? Michael Howard’s seminal article, ‘The Use and Abuse of Military History’, contends that depth is achieved by studying a campaign or …

Major General Stephen Day , DSC, AM served in the Australian Army for 40 years, including conflicts in Africa, East Timor, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He has been formally recognised for his leadership by the Australian, French and United States governments. He held senior and privileged positions – Deputy Operations Officer of the Multi National Force – Iraq, a force in excess of 400,000, and Chief of Plans for ISAF Joint Command in Afghanistan for a force in excess of 100,000. As part of a small group of …

  Army Innovation Day is a strategic collaboration between the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator and the Australian Army. Each year Army Innovation Day has a new theme that helps us explore how disruptive technologies can solve some of our most complex challenges, bolster our project pipeline and give soldiers exposure to the latest innovative concepts and ways of thinking. The Australian Army is seeking submissions demonstrating innovative capabilities to enhance the endurance, lethality and …

Colonel Renée Kidson CSM is currently Colonel Domestic Operations and Plans in Headquarters 5th Brigade of the Australian Army. Renée is a dual-career exemplar. Her military career has spanned 27 years to date, which she has proudly served as a Reservist concurrently with her civilian executive career. In her ADF capacity, she has served on multiple deployments internationally and domestically, most notably as Task Group Commander in New South Wales during Operation BUSHFIRE ASSIST 2019–2020, for which she …

Scalability Insights for Defence   Executive Summary Prepare to Scale Scalability is about how an organisation’s performance responds to significant changes in workload. The workload may be changing in quantity (more, or less, of the same) or type (existing products and services, or new ones), challenging the current size and shape of an organisation. Sound familiar? Recent events (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic) have forced many organisations—public, private and for-purpose—to rapidly scale: upwards, …

Phase 1—Identifying Barriers   Introduction The emergence of increasingly capable robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) has been recognised as having the potential to become a disruptive wave, raising significant challenges as well as opportunities for militaries. Every major military force has now publicly declared an interest in either developing, utilising or banning RAS. Even world leaders, such as Russian President Vladamir Putin, have issued proclamations regarding its potential impact on the future …

Dr Marigold Black is an intellectual historian with expertise in geopolitics, strategic level defence and national security issues. She was previously a Strategic Policy and Futures Research Fellow with the Australian Army Research Centre and the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, where she has undertaken extensive studies in sovereignty and the levers of national power, and worked with the Army to advance its intellectual strengths as part of the Joint Future …

Dr Austin Wyatt joined RAND Australia in 2022. His research focuses on the impacts of emerging and disruptive critical technologies, with a particular focus on AI and autonomous systems. While at RAND, Austin has contributed to research supporting the ADF in its engagement with emerging technologies. He holds a PhD in political science from the Australian Catholic University, which was awarded summa cum laude and received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Doctoral Research. Prior to joining …

Dr Andrew Dowse has been director of RAND Australia since July 2021. In this role, he identifies policy research opportunities for Australian clients at the Commonwealth and state/territory levels, delivers and disseminates high-quality research and analysis on Australian policy issues, and leads the RAND Australia office in Canberra. His most recent work for RAND Australia has been in providing research support to the Australian Department of Defence, specifically the Sovereign Guided Weapons Enterprise …

Dr Joanne Nicholson joined RAND Australia in July 2019 after 20 years’ combined experience working in and across government, industry and academia, particularly in support of defence, national security and the intelligence community. As a highly experienced operations researcher, strategic analyst and futures specialist, Joanne works with a variety of agencies to ensure their investment programs are aligned to relevant and appropriate strategic objectives and designed to deliver the benefits that their …