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Over the past decade, the Australian Army has established itself as the ‘preferred partner’ within the Indo-Pacific region. The Indo-Pacific region covers the area from India to Papua New Guinea, extending to North Korea in the North, our greatest footprint landing within the archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean north of Australia. The importance of maintaining or gaining the ‘preferred partner’ status with the countries in the region is highlighted by the meagre 800km stretch of ocean that separates the …

Introduction Since 2017, measles outbreaks have been surging around the globe, with many Indo-Pacific nations experiencing disease outbreaks due to low vaccination rates [i] . A targeted vaccination program provides opportunities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to supplement its traditional train, advise and assist missions with a low-risk and cost-effective public health intervention while delivering a strategic deterrent effect within our region. Measles vaccinations provide a legitimate reason …

CAPT Amanda Plant enlisted in the ADF in 2004 within the geospatial intelligence trade prior to transferring to a nursing officer in 2012. She has continued to combine both medical and intelligence disciplines and is passionate about the inclusion of health intelligence to identify strategic opportunities to influence and shape current and emerging global theatres. … Amanda …

The Forging of a First World War By Elizabeth Greenhalgh Cambridge University Press, 2011. 550. Online ISBN: 9780511835254 Reviewed by BRIG Chris Roberts AM, CSC (Retd.) Within the English speaking world, many volumes have been written on Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, with seven biographies devoted to him in the decade prior to the centenary of the Great War. One such volume attributes him as ‘The Architect of Victory.’  This is not surprising given …

In the public mind, there is an inherent connection between deterrence and lethality. In the Cold War, nuclear weapons were the foundation of how the great powers deterred. So too today, much of the deterrence debate has centred on long-range strike options. Yet firepower is not everything. In 1982, the British Government sent three of its nuclear submarines south to warn Argentina against threatening the Falkland Islands. Those submarines were far more capable than anything the Argentineans possessed, yet …

Professor Stephan Frühling researches and teaches at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and has widely published on Australian defence policy, defence planning and strategy, nuclear weapons and NATO. Stephan was the Fulbright Professional Fellow in Australia-US Alliance Studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC in 2017. He worked as a ‘Partner across the globe’ research fellow in the Research Division of the NATO Defense College in Rome in 2015, and was …

To read the commentary and reporting that was published when the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) was released, you would have to conclude that these are dark times for Army and that the need for land power is either diminished or no longer required. Such a perception, however, would be misplaced. The DSR makes it clear that Army must to be able to get out into our immediate region, that it must be able to project land power, and that it must be engaged with our neighbours. Importantly, the DSR emphasises …

In recent years, Australia’s security force assistance has primarily focused on states that are categorised as fragile or engaged in conflicts. However, expanding the policy toolkit of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to encompass developed and advanced states could present new opportunities for achieving national government objectives, as well as benefiting the ADF and the Australian Army. Several of Australia’s partner nations, such as the United Arab Emirates, fall under the category of developed and …

While Australian policy guidance has recently embraced deterrence as a strategic posture, there is limited guidance about the force structure and posture implications for Army. The Australian Army Research Centre's new Occasional Paper addresses this gap by developing three models to achieve strategic deterrence through the forward presence of land forces. … Forward Presence for …

‘Army’s Role in Train, Advise and Assist Missions’ Australia’s strategic environment is complex, increasingly contested and rapidly evolving. Major power competition, militarisation, disruptive technological change and other evolving threats pose challenges to Australia’s national security. These developments test Army’s capacity to generate highly trained, disciplined and fit tactical units; preserve its capacity to operate within the integrated force; while simultaneously delivering Army forces in …