Introduction This publication has an express purpose. It is to provide soldiers with an understanding of their trade. Waging war is a complex and dangerous business, but it is also an essential one for the Australian state and people. The maxim that ‘if you want peace you must prepare for war’ remains as true as ever. The converse also remains true. If you want war, disarm. Australia needs soldiers who are physically and mentally prepared to do what is needed in times of danger, and to do it better than …

Foreword Based on almost any metric, Australia’s strategic circumstances are deteriorating. Not since the darkest days of the Second World War has it faced threats to sovereignty and interests that could be described as both truly strategic and potentially existential. The return of great power competition amongst states competing for global hegemony, along with global pandemics, natural and man-made disasters, the possibility of nuclear war in Europe, global inflation, the hyper-transformation and …

Report on Applied Research Directions and Future Opportunities for Swarm Systems in Defence The Australian Government’s 2020 Force Structure Plan outlined a total package of capability investment of approximately $200 billion over the next decade (2020). This expenditure will equip Defence to meet challenges in the future with new investments in strike platforms, littoral assets, helicopters, information effects, logistics resilience, and emerging robotics and autonomous systems. The 2018 Army Robotics and …

Leadership and Ethics in 2040 Introduction The Australian Defence Force (ADF) ethos is derived from that of our broader society. And in turn, Australians define something at the core of national identity through the ADF. Australians are proud of the ADF and the ADF’s history. They need and want the ADF to represent the best of Australian values. And Australians will be direct in telling the ADF if we have let them down. [i] The year is 2040 and Australia is again at war. Corporal or Lieutenant Smith, an …

The War Diary of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes   by Geoffrey Keyes, edited by James W. Holsinger Jr University Press of Kentucky , Lexington, 2024,  459 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9780813198712 Reviewed By: Chris Roberts   Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes, a 1913 graduate of the United States Military Academy, saw active service in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations during the Second World War, and later served in occupied Germany and occupied Austria. During the North African Campaign, from November …

Case studies of German offensive and defensive operations on the Western Front 1914-17   By Captain G.C. Wynne Helion , Solihull, 2011, 216pp, Images : c 40 b/w photos, 19 maps 9781906033767 - Paperback 9781909384033 - Hardback 9781907677915 - ebook Reviewed by Chris Roberts Within the English-speaking historiography of the Great War, the emphasis is largely from the British perspective, with only brief mention of the enemy’s action. In this admirable series of battle narratives, Wynne counters this trend …

The focus of the Chief of Army (CA) Scholarships is to enable high preforming individual’s time to invest in academic research of immediate benefit to the Australian Army, both in a broad sense and those that specifically address future warfare and the State of the Australian Army Profession. The CA annually selects personnel to undertake research or professional development opportunities that will benefit Army from: research that broadly aligns with the Army Strategic Futures Agenda (ASFA) the …

The National Defence Strategy describes Australia’s preferences for the application or threat of force to achieve national policy outcomes. In his introduction, the Director General Future Land Warfare observes that Army’s body of professional knowledge must align with these preferences. This edition of the Australian Army Journal signposts some of the new professional knowledge that may be required in respect of technological development, ways of fighting and geography. It covers a diverse range of …

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 …

    This edition of the Australian Army Journal (AAJ) examines the foundations of professional mastery and doctrine, and reinforces the proposition that how we think inevitably affects how we perform. Opening with articles by Mark Gilchrist, Mark Mankowski and Nick Bosio, the journal considers how the ADF can maximise the effectiveness of joint operations, particularly in the context of Australia’s rapidly evolving strategic circumstances. Nicholas Mahr, Mark Sargent and James Casey challenge elements of …