The Edge

Australia’s Military Strategic Challenges – Close to Home

The 16 September 2021 announcement of an enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) confirmed beyond any remaining doubt that the Australian Government considers its strategic environment to have permanently changed. The 2020 Defence Strategic Update presaged the announcement by highlighting a number of developments which had swiftly altered the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific region since the publication of Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper.

Three words that conjure dangerous oversimplification

The Defence Strategic Update of 2020 provided three words that neatly encapsulate Government’s strategic objectives. The words also capture the raison d'etre of the Australian Defence Force and the tasks it is likely to execute in a period of ‘the most consequential strategic realignment since the Second World War’.^[1]

The 2019 ADF Joint Warrant Officer Course in review

Leveraging off the latest Joint Warrant Officer Course (JWOC) conducted in September 2019, the article focuses on the continued development of JWOC as part of the ADF’s Joint Professional Military Education Continuum. The article discusses the positioning of the JWOC course on the JPME Continuum and aims to assist in the preparation of senior ADF Warrant Officers for future Tier B and C appointments. It achieves this by providing an executive-level understanding of contemporary Defence issues at the strategic, operational and functional levels of command through the study of Australia’s Strategic Defence Environment, Joint Capability and Force Design and Command Leadership and Ethics. Most importantly it highlights the fact that a key ‘deliverable’ of the JWOC is to cultivate, in our senior Warrant Officers, the ability to think both critically and strategically.

The Competition Prism

“Our traditional way that we differentiate between peace and war is insufficient …….we think of being at peace or war…our adversaries don’t think that way.” 

General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 21 September and 5 October 2016 

ADF Concept for Command and Control of the Future Force

FOREWORD

by DL Johnston, AO Vice Admiral, RAN

Vice Chief of the Defence Force

Lessons for Military Planning in 21st Century Warfare

The Importance Of Strategically Focused Force Design

BRIGADIER IAN LANGFORD- DIRECTOR GENERAL FUTURE LAND WARFARE

“People, Ideas, Machines…in that order!”

Colonel John Boyd

ADFA Presentation 2019 – General Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC

The Governor-General of Australia, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC, addresses ADFA staff and trainees

Time to Review the Rings

Dr David Connery proposes a new way to conceive the levels of war, building on the work of historian Michael Handel. Does a liner model offer a more useful way to apply doctrinal levels in an Australian context?

Churchill Fellowship Report 2017

This report highlights recommendations that represent an opportunity for the ADF to enhance capacity for coordinated joint maritime warfare planning and execution, and provide a platform for Maritime Trade Operations employment as a niche warfare capability.

North Korea’s Military Capability

This article is a Backgrounder document produced by the US Council on Foreign Relations outlining North Korea’s military capabilities with a particular focus on unconventional weapons. The article addresses the current state and source of origin of North Korea’s current arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as their delivery platforms.

Artificially Intelligent Engineers – How AI Will Kill All Engineering Jobs

Suitable for junior through to senior officers. May be useful for Command and Staff College and Capability and Technology Management College students. Offers technical insight that is valuable to those not familiar with the field of Artificial Intelligence and potential applications to Defence systems.