The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems: Organisational and Political Consequences The Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence – Jun 2021 Paul Dumouchel is interested in how Autonomous Weapon Systems will change Army’s ability to project power, affect the composition of armed forces, and affect the power relationships within them. He makes several thought-provoking observations related to Army structure and force design more broadly. A …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Accountability and Control of Autonomous Weapon Systems: A Framework for Comprehensive Human Oversight Minds and Machines – Aug 2020 The emergence of Autonomous Weapon Systems has led to increased academic and societal interest in the concepts of accountability and responsibility. Considerable focus has been on accountability gap that will facilitate a lack of criminal liability and moral responsibility. The authors of this paper attempt …

Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 10 Will the military modernisation measures that Army takes today prepare our ADF men and women for the leadership and ethical challenges of tomorrow?  In AARC Occasional Paper 10 , we stand in the shoes of soldier Smith facing the prospect of their first combat operation in 2024.  This Land Power Forum article is an abstract from that Paper. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) ethos is derived from that of our broader society. And in turn, Australians define something …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Global Networks 2030: Developing Economies and Emerging Technologies Centre for Strategic and International Studies – Mar 2021 Strategic competition in global communications is intensifying. the Centre for Strategic and International Studies has produced this report to help policymakers chart a strategic course regarding developing economies and emerging communications technologies. Hillman and Rivas core contention is that the United …

“The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men’s experience), i.e. the hard way. By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men.” (MAJGEN J Mattis, DIA Reading List 2018) In the conduct of urban warfare, the basic principles have changed little, and slowly, over the last century.  Yet there remains no great classical works to …

  A Practitioners Annotated Bibliography FOREWORD “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana 1905 Every few decades a generation of soldiers learns the ‘lessons’ of urban warfare the hard way. Yet it seems that those …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Land Operations and Competing Perspectives on Warfare Comparative Strategy — Jul 21 Niklas Nilsson’s article explores how different conceptualisations of the character of warfare have given rise to  conflicting ideas about the contemporary role and mission of land forces. Some perspectives validate the continued relevance of conventional land operations, whilst others imply that they are not as useful as in the past. Nilsson presents the …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . Missile Developments in South Asia: A Perspective from Pakistan The International Institute of Strategic Studies — May 21 Missile Developments in South Asia: A Perspective from India The International Institute of Strategic Studies — June 21 This pair of papers present the ongoing missile development in South-West Asia from alternative viewpoints. The expansion of India and Pakistan’s missile systems reflect ongoing tension and possible …

The content in this article is an extract of  Spotlight Brief 7/21 . The Missile Defense ‘Arms Race’ Myth Strategic Studies Quarterly — Spring 21 There has been a drastic increase in ballistic missile arsenals within the Indo-Pacific Region in the last decade. A natural response to this threat would be for Australia to invest heavily in missile defence systems. Some have argued that this will only lead to an arms race: spending money, time, and energy on missile defence will simply prompt …

Spotlight Brief 7/21 has particular emphasis on issues relating to the future of warfare, especially land warfare, in addition to its usual areas of interest. The Australian Army operates across a broad range of missions, but what is common is its need to continuously adapt; to respond to the rapid pace of change, to always be prepared to do more, to do things differently, and to do new things. The Army has grasped this, reflected in its work to incorporate and respond to Accelerated Warfare , and …