Abstract The purpose of this article is to highlight five challenges for Future Infantry in order to stimulate thinking about Future Infantry’s requirement to adapt and change. While this paper is Infantry focused, the challenges outlined will resonate with many people in the wider Army, and are of likely interest to people from Joint, whole-of-government, coalition, contractor and non-government organisations who expect to operate with Army in the future. In the twenty-first century, Future …

Abstract An enduring element of Australia’s commitment to Afghanistan is the Special Operations Task Group (known as TF66). This force is specifically trained for counter-terrorism and counterinsurgency operations, both of which have been conducted as part of the effort in Afghanistan. The effectiveness of these operations has to date been significant. This has been due to the direct and indirect Tines of Operation, which have been developed into a series of operating methodologies throughout the rotations …

QNG23 Challenge Outcomes This post continues a series on quantum technologies. It details outcomes and findings from the Army Quantum Next Generation Minesweeper Challenge 2023 . Landmines and buried ordinances pose a significant danger in warzones, extending through active conflict and lingering as a threat in the aftermath. Finding and clearing landmines is both a valuable military capability and a humanitarian tool. Existing methods of minefield clearance are slow and dangerous, relying on ground teams …

Malaya   Written by: Brian Farrell and Garth Pratten,  Army History Unit, Canberra, 2009. ISBN: 9781921941689, 254pp   Reviewed by: Mark Johnston The Second AIF was a magnificent force, but it was on the receiving end of several heavy defeats. Inevitably, these defeats raise some questions about its performance. One of these controversial campaigns, Malaya, is the subject of the latest instalment of the ‘Australian Army Campaigns Series’. Brian Farrell and Garth Pratten have written a penetrating and …

Managing Civil-Military Cooperation   Written by: Sebastiaan J H Rietjens and Myriame T I B Bollen (eds),  Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, 2008, ISBN: 9781315593470, 280pp   Reviewed: by Major Richard Peace Civil-military cooperation is now a feature of nearly all Australian current operational deployments. While seen by some as a black art, this book attempts to dispel some of the misconceptions that arise on what is civil- military cooperation. This book is a collection of essays based on the Dutch …

Abstract This article argues that Improvised Explosive Devices are robots. In declining to make this connection, Western militaries have been blind to their adversaries’ use of robot-enabled warfare. The effect has been to render Western soldiers tactically and operationally reactive, and on the wrong end of attrition warfare. The resolution lies in understanding how robots are supervised, and how a robot-enabled force can enable its personnel to out-adapt their human foes. Introduction The rapid fielding …

The advent of widely available Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Meta AI, represents the most significant advance in AI to date. This new technology presents new risks too. Well-known examples include bias, hallucination, theft of intellectual property (IP), and lack of transparency. [1] These dangers certainly raise questions over the suitability of using LLMs in the military.  To date, security experts have mainly focused on the risks of this new AI technology through the lens of …

Dr Josh Healy is an Associate Professor at the Business School, University of Sydney and an expert in the future of work. His research spans employee wellbeing, labour market dynamics, and the workplace impacts of new technologies. Collaborating with a diverse range of industry partners, Dr Healy has examined enduring and emerging issues including job quality, workforce participation, gig work, workforce ageing, workplace leadership, and organisational performance, showing how these factors intersect in …

Dr Jamie Freestone is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Engineering at the Australian National University. He currently works on the philosophy of autonomous systems. He is also an Australian Army Research Centre (AARC) Fellow investigating the viability of LLMs in military contexts. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland, where he also completed his PhD. … Jamie …

Listed below is a selection from the review copies that have arrived at the Australian Army Journal . Reviews for many of these books can be found online in the relevant edition of the Australian Army Journal at: http://www.defence.gov.au/army/lwsc/Australian_Army_Journal.asp North Korea on the Brink, Glyn Ford with Soyoung Kwon, Pluto Press, ISBN 9780745325989, 249 pp. (Distributed in Australia by Palgrave Macmillan) Reporting the War: Freedom of the Press from the American Revolution to the War on …