War College Papers 2022

This essay's thesis is that Russia failed to achieve its primary objective due to inadequate operational risk management. This risk, combined with failures in combined arms warfare and logistical problems, led to Russian forces failing to maintain sufficient operational reach and reaching their culminating point before achieving their operational objective.

This article evaluates the principal strengths and weaknesses of the ADF’s Joint Military Appreciation Process when used in the planning and execution of operations against complex adaptive systems. It proposes that the ADF could either scrap the JMAP process and move to an existing and more suitable framework for complex adaptive systems, or continue to use the JMAP in conjunction with these more adaptive reiterative systems.

This essay argues that linear planning processes are the most effective method of justifying capability development to the Australian Government to then apply those capabilities as military violence in the complex adaptive system of war.

This paper argues that the ADF requires network-driven system design to maximise the effects of platforms and capabilities across all domains. System design through platform or Service is a relic of the past.

Why the ADF needs to incorporate non-linearity into contemporary planning to seize a competitive advantage. This paper will argue that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) must place greater emphasis on nonlinear thinking and methodologies to enable a more holistic understanding of the contemporary operational environment and develop the intellectual edge required to outsmart, out-innovate, and outmanoeuvre its adversary.

The Russian approach in the 2022 Ukraine War. This essay was written on 23 September 2022, before the Ukrainian recapture of Kherson in the South in October 2022. It offers a snapshot of the events leading up to that point. An analysis of Russian campaign planning and operations demonstrates how the Clausewitzian trinity of chance, passion and reason continues to hold true and has undermined Vladimir Putin's military foray into Ukraine.