Australian Defence Force

Mobilisation occurs during all conflicts with just the degree of mobilisation varying. Surprisingly then, most mobilisation thinking, doctrine and processes focus almost entirely on pre-war mobilisation activities, aiming to ensure that a nation is adequately prepared for an anticipated future war. In reality, this is an overly ambitious undertaking. Wars often arrive unexpectedly, their nature and scope are rarely understood before they start, their duration is unknown, and even the full list of participants is generally in doubt. Deep uncertainty inevitably frustrates thinking about mobilisation.

This paper aims to provide a structured way of thinking about mobilisation policymaking and planning that takes this inherent uncertainty into account. It uses two approaches: alternative futures and historical case studies. By projecting the known past into the uncertain future, the paper generates key insights on national mobilisation issues relevant to defence strategic thinking, doctrine and processes across a range of strategic circumstances.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has recently undergone the most comprehensive review of its organizational culture since federation. Western militaries across the USA, Canada and the UK are similarly engaged. Military misconduct, including rape, assault and the long traditions of hazing and bastardization, have been increasingly exposed, engaging civil society, agitating government and undermining military integrity. The Skype Affair is described as a particularly important military misconduct scandal that brought these relations, and ruling relations more specifically, into focus. The article describes the contest over democratic control of the armed forces initiated when the jurisdictions and authority of the Defence Minister, the Chief of Defence and the Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) converged over the management of this military scandal. This article looks at how relations between Australian civil society, the military and the state are affected by the varying engagements of these sectors with the question of violence in the military and, subsequently, military modernization. The news-mediated discourse is one that highlights the structural split of civil– military relations, between two white masculinized institutions in a context of distinct cultural divergence over the rule of nation.

It’s time to be alarmed not just alert. On Sunday, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles revealed a “very dangerous” intercept by a People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) fighter of an Australian P-8 maritime patrol aircraft took place on 26 May over the South China Sea. The P-8 aircraft was flying in international airspace at the time, well outside territorial waters. Australia has conducted maritime patrols in the area for several decades – the P-8s flight was unremarkable, the J-16 fighter’s aggressive moves anything but.

In reviewing Military Cultural Reform in ABCA countries, two things are apparent. First, a significant amount of all social policy reform has occurred in the last 15 years; and second, all four countries have tended to be reactive to public opinion, rather than proactive. Some armies are more vocal about cultural change than others. Common to all however, is the practice of bringing about change in response to an atrocity. Typical across the group are incidents of sexual misconduct, torture, bullying, and alcohol abuse; and in the fallout after these incidents, there was a perceived or reported public outcry, and the armies answered the public by commissioning investigations. There is less evidence of organic reform, or peculiar issue identification. Chiefly, each armed force, perhaps through a shared, high operational tempo, has enacted a considerable amount of cultural change in a short time.

The rise of Asia’s two giants, China and India, is forcing Australia to re-examine its understanding of the regional order that has existed since the 1940s. There has been much debate about the choices that Australia faces with a rising China, but there has been less discussion about the strategic consequences of India’s emergence. 

Many are beginning to see a rising India as a major element in the Indo-Pacific strategic balance.  Australia’s security relationship with India has been growing much closer over the last decade, driven by concerns about China as well as a host of other shared interests.  In the long term, India is likely to become a key security partner in the Indian Ocean and possibly one of Australia’s most important security partners in the Indo-Pacific region. 

But there has been little consideration how this burgeoning strategic relationship with India will fit with Australia’s core security relationship with the United States or with the US alliance system. India is not a traditional ally or customary partner for Australia. This report looks at the choices faced by Australia in building its strategic relationship with India in a way that fits with the US alliance and the broader regional order.

This paper outlines and reviews the field of sociology and the military in Australia. It argues that sociology and the military have an impoverished relationship in Australia. A brief history of the field is outlined. Key events are described to outline the importance of building the relationship between sociology and the military. The idea of military criminology is floated to describe the richness of a research field that describes and explains institutional behaviour that results in criminality or misconduct.

In civilian trauma concerns about tourniquet-related problems has rendered tourniquets virtually obselete. The use of tourniquets in a battlefield setting however remains surrounded by controversy. Whilst many accept that if properly used, tourniquets can be life saving devices, opinion is divided regarding its role. Some surgeons have recommended abolition of the tourniquet, whist others advocate that every combat solder should be issued with a tourniquet as part of their personal equipment. The recent introduction of the self applied C-A-T tourniquet into the Australian Defence Force has re-ignited controversy as to the appropriate role of tourniquets in an operational setting.During Vietnam, Desert Storm and Somalia haemorrhage from extremity wounds was a leading cause of preventable combat deaths. Improvements in body armour and increased exposure to blast injury has resulted in a relative increase in limb injuries in recent operations. Experience in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan particularly by Special Operations communities has led to a re-assessment of the efficacy of battlefield tourniquet systems. The C-A-T tourniquet has been widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan. No iatrogenic injury has been reported, even with tourniquet times up to 8 hours.This paper will discuss the history of tourniquet use in the military from its first introduction in 1674 to the most recent ADF doctrine (ADFP XXX). It will also present trial results from the UK and US and recommendations from the 2006 Advanced Technologies Applied to Combat Casualty Care Conference (ATACC).This paper will address the basis of current doctrine and provide a case for and against the use of tourniquets in an operational setting.

Muhammad Zarrar Haider endeavours to identify a significant existing or future capability which can be scaled back, abandoned or removed from the current Australian Defence Force structure. It has been argued that future submarines can be scaled back from twelve to nine within the framework of strategic guidance.

Time is not Australia’s friend. We face a deteriorating strategic environment, relative economic decline and a wayward principal ally. Australia will need a grand strategy to identify the key priorities and create the discipline and organisation needed to address these many challenges. Australian leadership and involvement in the South Pacific should be at the forefront of these efforts.

“Army is Australia’s biggest and most experienced user of drones,” claimed General Angus Campbell when Chief of Army. The facts support him. Air Force is out of the drone business until next decade when Triton and perhaps an armed drone enter service, although some individuals are embedded in US Air Force ‘Predator’units. Navy is more advanced with eight ScanEagle systems operational, including on recent frigate deployments to the Middle East, and is trialling the Schiebel Camcopter S-100. By comparison with the other Services, Army leads the way, with more than a decade of drone flying experience, including in-combat operations. It operates dozens of drones while bringing into service many more, albeit many are tiny.

This article challenges the moral ethic around the inequities of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) workplace and what should be every member's right, foremost as a civil right, to access fair and equal opportunity in their profession. It is a topical article that seeks to inspire discourse

Latex allergy is a type I immediate hypersensitivity reaction to particular latex proteins in natural rubber latex. It must be differentiated from irritant dermatitis (not allergic) and allergic contact dermatitis (a type IV delayed hypersensitivity reaction). ◆ In the general, non-atopic population, the prevalence of latex allergy may be less than 1%, but in healthcare workers may be as high

This contribution compares the sealability performance of recently developed three synthetic foam formulations (that do not contain fluorosurfactants or fluoropolymers) with that of an aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). We apply the sealability methodology outlined in the Australian Defence Force Specification, DEF(AUST)5706. This methodology specifies a 0.28 m 2 small-scale indoor fire pan. The pan is first filled with 10 L of water and then 5 L of AVGAS (aviation gasoline, flash point of -50 o C) or heptane (flash point of -4 o C) is placed on top of the water. Foams were generated from a pressurised extinguisher with a foam nozzle as described in the standard's specification, set to create foams with expansion of 4:1.

Antarctica is changing. Not just physically as climate change inexorably impacts but also in how countries and people perceive and act in the world’s last uninhabited continent. More and more states are becoming engaged in Antarctic issues and establishing research bases there.

The scientific endeavours of all the participating Antarctic states use a judicious mix of military and commercial air transport assets. Australia is notable in this use of national air power in Antarctica albeit on a small-scale. Sizeable investments have and are being made to create an effective and efficient air logistic network. In looking to the future however, exciting new possibilities beckon.

This paper initially examines Antarctica today including recent Chinese, Indian and Russian activities in the East Antarctic region that Australia asserts sovereignty over. In the second section, the paper focuses on Australia’s national interests, current air operations and development intentions. The third section looks two decades forward to develop four alternative futures both appropriate to Antarctic air operations and linked to the ADF’s 2035 Future Operating Environment’s alternative futures. The fourth section applies these futures to devise a range of strategic options in terms of potential Australian Antarctic national air power approaches and possible force structure changes.

Since the Cold War ended the US Navy has dominated the seas, and this has allowed Western navies to focus on projecting power from the sea, generally in support of land force interventions in failing states. This domination has now changed: accompanying the return of geopolitical tensions are new challenges to American naval supremacy by China and Russia but also by some smaller states like Iran. The seas are now  contested. Western navies are now having to reorient from projecting power onto the land to preparing for a future possible war at sea against
formidable naval powers.

Automated decision-making systems are becoming more prevalent in government processes around the world, in areas as diverse as the administration of social security, taxation, criminal sentencing and migration.3 These systems are most likely to be deployed in branches of government that must cope with a high caseload, as well as repetitive assessments against prescriptive criteria. However, as will be shown below, automated systems can vary in nature, which is likely to have implications for the manner in
which they are authorised or delegated, as well as for the risks that might be posed by indiscriminate use of those systems. Accordingly, this paper  rst canvasses the lexicon and meaning of terms such as arti cial intelligence and machine learning, before discussing technical aspects of the processes and tools these capacities can produce. Next, it applies the solution to three problems: assisting individuals when sentencing ADF members within the military discipline system; assisting ADF decision-makers to make consistent decisions when imposing administrative sanctions; and assisting central bodies such as the Career Management Agency with posting plots and career plans. This paper will not deal with some of the more nuanced legal issues surrounding automated decision-making.

The development of modern air power is faced with a fundamental challenge, since the future is uncertain and air forces need a long lead-time to build. Much effort and significant resources could be expended, with no assurance that an air force so built will be fit for purpose because of the uncertain strategic circumstance of the future. The alternative futures methodology offers a way around this issue.

The Australian Defence Force’s Future Operating Environment 2035 imagines four alternative future worlds. This monograph examines each of these four worlds to determine the operational demands they might make on the Air Force. These demands are then examined to determine significant issues, potential organisational adjustments and possible changes to Fundamental Inputs to Capability that could make Air Force better prepared for the future. In looking forward twenty years, this monograph looks beyond short-term imperatives to stimulate the imagination and encourage creative thinking about the uncertain future.
This monograph disrupts our preconceptions of what we expect to happen and prepares us for what might happen.

The experience of acting as lead nation for the International Force
East Timor (INTERFET) provided the greatest test yet of
Australian Defence Force (ADF) capabilities and strategic
direction. This monograph examines the process that the ADF
played in helping to form and manage the coalition and deploy
troops to East Timor. It concludes that INTERFET was
successful but that, to provide for Australia’s security in an
unstable region, the ADF needs to improve its ability to engage in
multinational operations. Effective and positive engagement with
the region will only be enhanced by developing a more conscious
‘whole-of-government’ approach to national security that
recognises that Australian security cannot be guaranteed by a
unilateral approach to the defence of the country’s interests. The
crisis in East Timor reconfirmed that Australia’s interests remain
bound up with its regional neighbours and its traditional alliance
partners.

In December 2018, the first two of Australia’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters arrived at their new home base at RAAF Base Williamtown near Newcastle. This represented the culmination of considerable effort, Australia having joined the program many years ago in 2002. The arrival though is more another step on a long and winding road than a conclusion as the fighter remains in active development. The two F-35s that arrived at Williamtown are an interim configuration not the acquisition project’s final one.

In response to a recent essay in the Australian Army Journal, which continued the current debate about 'Cultural Awareness' , this article examines the place of the Australian soldier in the community. It questions whether it is counterproductive to remove the soldier from the very community that could teach him the valuable skills in human relations he needs on operations. The author draws examples from current recruiting and accommodation practices, pre-deployment training, recent operations and current ethical discourse. With the current thirst for cultural awareness in the operational theatre, and the growing acknowledgment of the gap between that ambition and the reality, the question needs to be asked whether we are doing the mission a disservice by increasingly isolating the soldier from the community, and thereby diminishing his culture.

By 2025, the Royal Australian Air Force will be able, if all works out, to wage an air war using distributed forces all seamlessly exchanging data and fighting as an integrated whole. Earlier visions of network centric warfare will have been made real in the form of an advanced ‘combat thunderstorm.’

Deciding to deploy the Australian Defence Force domestically, in aid to the civil authority, is no small decision. This paper looks at the ability to judicially review a decision to call out the ADF under Part IIIAAA of the Defence Act 1903. It focuses upon the threshold requirements, and mandatory considerations. In doing so, it further looks at what would be required to demonstrate bad faith by an authorising Minister.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has recently undergone the most comprehensive review of its organizational culture since federation. Western militaries across the USA, Canada and the UK are similarly engaged. Military misconduct, including rape, assault and the long traditions of hazing and bastardization, have been increasingly exposed, engaging civil society, agitating government and undermining military integrity. The Skype Affair is described as a particularly important military misconduct scandal that brought these relations, and ruling relations more specifically, into focus. The article describes the contest over democratic control of the armed forces initiated when the jurisdictions and authority of the Defence Minister, the Chief of Defence and the Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) converged over the management of this military scandal. This article looks at how relations between Australian civil society, the military and the state are affected by...

Militaries are institutions of violence. This chapter considers the dark side of military violence: violence within the military. While many criminological studies have attended to the violence and crime of, and within, environments of war, the study of the source of that violence, the military institution, has been neglected. This chapter draws upon the criminological literature of the dark side of organisations to argue violence within the military: hazing, brutalisation, and sexual assault of, and between service personnel, are a structured element of militarism. This is predominantly male violence and crime. By drawing upon critical gender studies and critical theory, the phenomenon of male violence within the military is considered along three key themes: the scission of civil and military, the production of violent subjectivities through military training, and the fraternal character of military masculinities and military organisation.

With a renewed focus on the treatment of women in the ADF, including through the conduct of reviews in 2011-12 by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Elizabeth Broderick, it is worth reflecting on the role that gender plays in military operations and operational planning, and its link to capability building and sustainment. This is not a modern form of affirmative action - gender perspective, analysis and mainstreaming plays a real part in NATO's crisis management planning process and the conduct of operations and missions designed to support areas of crisis and conflict.

The return of the majority of troops from the Middle East Area of Operations, and the focus throughout Anzac Day of the contemporary veteran experience, thrust into the public eye a picture of just how crowded the veteran space has become. The rise of military charities and veteran support groups has somewhat decentralised the traditional role of the Returned Services League, and introduced the idea of public funding for rehabilitation. Investigations into the symptoms and therapies associated with post-traumatic stress disorder have contributed much to normalising mental health. The community is awash with veterans. Or is it? As predicted, the Department of Veterans Affairs is bracing for a tidal surge but it may not be structured to offer comprehensive and inclusive compensation. The military charities have a more conducive structure but limited funding. The result may be that some contemporary veterans simply disappear into the community, unhealed. This article will look at two emerging gaps in service to veterans. First, the ‘reintegration’ phase of transition and, second, the lack of dedicated services for women.

To investigate whether Australian soldiers were exposed to filarial parasites that cause lymphatic filariasis during a 6-month deployment to Timor-Leste, antifilarial antibody levels were measured in 907 soldiers using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Initial testing using Dirofilaria immitis antigen demonstrated that 49 of 907 (5.4%) soldiers developed antifilarial antibodies of the IgG1 subclass after deployment, whereas 1 of

The Australian Army is being steadily withdrawn from operations
in Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. The intense operational period of the last decade may be lessening, but the Army remains committed to a long-term capability development program that is progressively reshaping it. This program is two fold....

Australia is among the most urbanized people in the world, but the "outback" - the desert and semi-arid areas of the center and the North of the continent - is rarely considered. While the Northern zone has always been considered the likely direction of foreign attack. Few recognize the Spacial Air Service established in 1957, based in the State of Western Australia - everything to the north is desert or arid in climate and conditions.

DRUG abuse and binge drinking, sexual assault, violence, racism and bullying. These are practices we abhor and seek to end. We admire and aspire to sacrifice, dedication, compassion and selflessness. Together, these practices represent a paradox of violence and reason.

The inconvenient truth of internally conducted Defence Inquiries – where officers act as judge and jury over complaints of bullying and harassment of soldiers and Defence civilians – is now commonly recognised within the Defence community as a foundation for institutional abuse.

The realisation comes with a recommendation that now is the time to investigate the link between abuse and suicide among soldiers and Defence civilians.

Abstract: In 2001, the first students enrolled in a new degree program at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). This program, known as the’ Bachelor of Technology in Aviation’ (B’Tech Av), represented the fruition of three years work, and was jointly developed by representatives from the Australian Defence Force (ADF), the University of New South Wales(UNSW) and BAE Systems (Tamworth).

In October 2002, two bombs exploded in Bali injuring hundreds, and killing 202 people. The purpose of this paper is to report the organization of the first response, rehabilitation strategies, and outcome of a series of patients evacuated to the Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), a civilian hospital in Australia. The initial medical response in Bali was primarily conducted by holidaying health professionals supporting the hospital on the island. The Australian Defence Force was primarily responsible for the ongoing acute clinical management during the evacuation and repatriation of survivors to all major burn units in Australia. At the RPH, hospital adaptations included novel staffing and treatment strategies to sustain a team effort beyond the acute phase of the disaster to manage the surge of 28 patients (15% of yearly admissions) in 7 days. Data collected were related to service delivery and patient outcomes (shoulder active range of motion, grip strength, and the Burns Specific Health Scale). Data were compared to baseline, similar data collected during normal practice and population norms. Bali patients received 3.2% more therapy treatment sessions and 6.8% less contact hours than usual protocols. Shoulder AROM recovered to normal limits by 3 months postdischarge. Grip strength for women was shown to reach population norms by 1 month after discharge and by 6 months for males. Self-rated physical recovery exceeded major burn population norms at 6 months postdischarge. Physical therapy outcome measures demonstrated upper limb recovery as usual in the Bali group, despite a mass casualty situation. To achieve this required support from the multidisciplinary team, in combination with community, government, and hospital administrative assistance.

The author considers a number of Australian Defence Force (ADF) equipment acquisition projects which are ongoing or even in the project stage. The review indicates that Australia continues to be a major market for defence equipment, with some major projects in the planning stage, including plans for new destroyers and offshore patrol craft.

Many of the arguments supporting diversity in the military focus on the instrumental benefits available to an organization that embraces differences. Viewed through this lens, diversity risks becoming another "to do," and prioritized according to available resources. Arguing for diversity primarily from the basis of the "capability argument" also fails to challenge the as yet unresolved perceived tension between a military's com-bat effectiveness, and its adherence to the values and laws of the state it protects. This thesis seeks to reframe the diversity debate by arguing that a diverse military reflective of the demography of society is a fundamental necessity in a Western liberal democracy. The paper uses sociological theory to posit that current approaches to diversity in the US Air Force overlook the role of identity in molding behavioral norms and influencing the ability of the organization to process and integrate difference. Using the US Air Force Academy as a case study, this thesis seeks to determine how identities are constructed in early officer training, and how these nascent identities might influence the overall levels of diversity within the organization. By blending quantitative and qualitative evidence, this project concludes that the US Air Force Academy constructs and cultivates exclusive identities that conflict with government initiatives to build a diverse and inclusive organization. The analysis concludes with a number of policy recommendations that the author believes might be beneficial initial steps in re-casting the dominant identity of the US Air Force officer corps.

· by Alex Calvo · in Strategic Studies, War Studies. · Over the last few months we have been witness to debates and agreements concerning the hosting of US military personnel and assets in some countries, including Australia and the Philippine Islands. The presiding approach, that of a flexible regular deployment of rotating units, combined with the pre-positioning of forward-deployed equipment, merits attention in potential NATO member statesequipped with first-class harbors.

52 Load Carriage and its Force Impact Lieutenant Robin Orr, Australian Army Dr Rodney Pope, Charles Sturt University Dr Venerina Johnston, University of Queensland Associate Professor Julia Coyle, Charles Sturt University Introduction Just as history records that military ...

The development of telecommunications techniques and the need for more advanced services has created projects on standardization of international Intelligent Networks (IN). The standards of Intelligent Networks defme IN in an abstract point of view, so it leaves the service providers the decisions on their own implementations. The first standard sets of IN are Bellcore's AIN release 1 and the CCITI's Capability Set 1 (CSJ). They defme the basic services of IN, additional features such as rapid service introduction and a flexible architecture that provides future expansion to further IN Capability Sets. The standardization organisations, such as CCITI and ETSI, work hard to help the service providers to implement their IN architecture in order to be able to provide international IN services. This kind of architecture is better known as global Intelligent Network architecture and it should be taken into consideration already in the early implementations of IN. This paper presents some history of telecommunications technology, an overview of IN and its services.

The rise of NCW as a concept of operations has been accompanied by a significant reshaping of the natu re and tasking of the ADF. In particular the link between effective implementation of NCW and coalition interoperability is now becoming apparent. To achie ve coalition interoperability the ADF will have to ensure not only technological but organisational and social pa

Military operations in tropical environments have imposed a significant challenge to the Australian Defence Forces Ž. ADF. The hot and humid conditions are known to cause debilitating effects on soldiers deployed to northern regions of Australia, with the consequence that the effectiveness and efficiency of operations are severely compromised. While the adverse effects of thermal stress on soldiers' physiological capability are well established, this has not been confirmed for cognitive performance. A select range of psychometric tests were administered and functional brain electrical activity imaging was performed to investigate the impact of thermal stress on cognitive performance. The brain electrical activity of subjects was measured while undertaking a range of cognitive tasks. Steady State Probe Topography Ž. SSPT , a novel brain imaging technology, was employed to monitor the changes in regional brain activity and neural processing speed of subjects under thermal stress. The psychometric test batteries included the following tasks; Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test; Inspection Time; Digit Span test; a spatial working memory task; and the AX-continuous performance task. These tasks measure a range of cognitive processes including attention, memory, verbal learning, information processing and concentration. The functional brain imaging provided topographical information, which showed changes in electrical activity in response to thermal stress during cognitive performance. These changes in brain electrical activity and neural speed induced by thermal stress may help to identify the type of cognitive functions that are likely to be impaired under operational conditions. Results indicated that subjects experienced increasing cardiovascular strain through thermally neutral to thermally straining conditions. The results from the psychometric test battery showed some promising effects given the small sample size including deficits in working memory, in information retention and in information processing. There was also marked differences in the electrical responses of the brain ଝ This paper was presented at the International Conference on Physiological and Cognitive Performance in Extreme Environments,