The Edge

Joint Professional Military Education (JPME)

The Australian Joint Professional Military Education Continuum is Australia’s system to develop mastery in the Profession of Arms and aims to cultivate an intellectual edge in warfighting. The Joint Professional Military Education Continuum comprises:

Star Wars and its Lessons for Strategy and Intelligence

A recent presentation that I gave in Canberra that looks at the Star Wars universe, and its lessons for strategists and the intelligence community.

Reforming Culture: Preparing Defence for AI

Every day, artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more accessible, scalable and affordable. Disruption is not only possible, it is an inevitable - and leaders must start preparing for it now. However, the Australian Defence Forces’ (ADF) organisational culture is poorly equipped for - if not entirely opposed to - the fast and complete adoption of AI-enabled warfare. This paper explores the changes that Defence will need to make in order to prepare for artificial intelligence.

The Value Proposition for Developing a Future Intellectual Edge

Mick Ryan offers a new ‘value proposition’ for the intellectual development of military personnel for conflict in the 4th industrial revolution.

Thoughts from The Edge

Mick Ryan is the Commander of the Australian Defence College. This column from Ryan and his contributors focusses on intellectually preparing members of the profession of arms for strategic competition and future conflict.

How to Think (and How Not To)

In this piece, Ben McLennan discusses the pressing need to educate the Army’s workforce on how to think (and how not to). In his discussion, McLennan cogently addresses systems thinking, inherent biases and the need for open-mindedness as part of understanding the recipe to transform Army’s thinking. While specific to McLennan’s Army experience, his observations are equally applicable to other Services and anyone who aspires to think in a way that harnesses a competitive advantage.

Links to Follow

Twitter feeds and podcasts to follow.

Journals

Recommended publications.

First Principles Review - Creating One Defence

The Review Team were tasked with ensuring that Defence is fit for purpose and is able to deliver against its strategy with the minimum resources necessary. Using a structured framework, the team have conducted an end-to-end holistic review based on the outcomes required of Defence and founded on the first principles agreed by the review team.

Military Culture, Learning and Adaptation during the Burma Campaign 1942-1945

This essay discusses how military culture and learning and adaptation on both sides affected the outcome of the Burma Campaign 1942–1945. The British 14th Army developed a military culture of learning and adaptation which led to their victory while the Imperial Japanese Army had an existing military culture based upon tenets of Bushido, which constrained their ability to learn and adapt and in turn led to their defeat.

Thucydides Trap: A lesson in strategy and chance from ancient Greece

Understanding the challenges to British and French Imperialism 1900-1939– An application of the D.I.M.E model

The period between 1900-1939 is said to have created the characteristics of modern war and the global order as we know it. This period saw two World Wars, political revolutions, unprecedented innovation, the introduction of a third military service and created the pre-conditions that resulted in the end of Western imperialism.