The Edge

Scharnhorst and Professional Mastery

To me, being 'professional' has meant striving for excellence at my everyday job. Until I attended Command and Staff Course at the Australian War College last year, I did not appreciate that being good at my job was not the same as being a military professional. The course broadened my understanding; being a professional requires one to embrace continual learning in all aspects of the profession. I became conscious that through professional mastery, individuals, even those in junior roles, can influence organisational outcomes beyond their job.

Information-Led Operations and Gender: Experience From Operation Aslan

Successful integration of gender is about understanding how gender influences effects in population-centric strategies, and it begins with its robust incorporation into the intelligence analysis of the operational environment.

Learning Vulnerability

Learning to love learning requires passion and persistence. It can be a hard road, but intellectual endeavour is not just a personal challenge, it’s a challenge for the entire military community.

The Commander’s call: Re-defining rules of engagement (ROE) during Counterinsurgency (COIN) operations

The author writes on the inherent contradiction that exists between the implementation of international humanitarian law and the military operations in the conflict environment. The case in study is about ongoing counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Syria, where the U.S troops along with their ISAF colleagues face a dual challenge fighting the insurgents while working within the framework of international humanitarian and domestic laws. The article discusses the necessity of involving the field commander's view while developing rules of engagement so that the operational imperatives aren't lost while guarding against collateral damage.

Lessons for Military Planning in 21st Century Warfare

Mobilisation in the Information Technology Era

Our fundamental ideas about mobilisation are being challenged under the impact of the IT revolution. Impacting all of us, this is an area deserving our close attention.

Autonomous Systems, Auftragstaktik, and Governance.

This paper considers the importance of governance to the ability for the ADF to conduct mission command based operations. This examines the criticality of trust to the success of this operational concept and therefore the role governance will play in establishing trust in autonomous systems.

Augmented Reality and the Future of Learning and Business

Our interaction with the technological world today is changing rapidly. We are no longer limited by screens or even reality as we knew it. David Rapien walks us through the history and differences of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and looks towards the future options of these technologies in life, business and education.

How Biased Minds can be the Key to Unbiased AI Systems

The TED Talk examines the origins of Cognitive Bias, its advantages, drawbacks and challenges with Biased AI. The solution might lie within ourselves.

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

Science Fiction, JPME and the Australian Defence College

On science fiction, JPME and thinking about future military institutions.