{"id":4885,"date":"2018-10-15T08:30:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T22:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=4885"},"modified":"2023-08-06T14:31:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T04:31:52","slug":"realigning-the-australian-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/realigning-the-australian-army\/","title":{"rendered":"Realigning the Australian Army"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/tag\/peter-layton\/\">PETER LAYTON<\/a>\u00a0|<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Army is spending up big, announcing a $5.2bn contract for more than 200 Boxers (armoured reconnaissance vehicles from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.australiandefence.com.au\/land\/rheinmetall-s-boxer-crv-takes-out-5-2b-land-400-phase-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rheinmetall<\/a>, as opposed to\u00a0<em>Boxster<\/em>\u00a0of the Porsche variety), while also releasing a tender for another\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenceconnect.com.au\/land-amphibious\/2772-land-400-phase-3-tenders-now-open\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">450 even bigger<\/a>\u00a0and better armoured personnel carriers.<\/p>\n<p>While good for Australian industry and the winning states where the manufacturing jobs will be located, a debate is underway in the background over whether these contracts will really give the Australian Defence Force the leading-edge military capability it may need in a future conflict.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe army has a well-defined understanding of the future battlefield it wishes to fight in, but this is less easily related to what the army wishes to achieve fighting as part of a joint ADF.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/national-affairs\/defence\/lets-spread-the-spending-risk\/news-story\/3a0ca38b1e6c1bb3f75375ddd28cb2ac?nk=25f0c13607bcb3985cb55d71e4e62f0a-1538597697\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Some argue<\/a>\u00a0that the army\u2019s armour buys are at odds with emerging technology and that a lighter-weight, robotic army might be better.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.org.au\/accelerated-warfare-requires-creative-responses-to-new-threats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Others assert<\/a>\u00a0their doubts are because these contracts are not apparently linked to strategic guidance. Both perspectives fret that using up all the budget now will mean the Army will have little flexibility left to respond to any future strategic environment changes.<\/p>\n<p>In this, it is useful to step back and consider the army\u2019s two-part development program, which has been underway for many years.<\/p>\n<p>Firstly, the army has been steadily getting bigger. In the late-1990s, the army had some 23,000 permanent personnel; the latest budget funds an authorised strength of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/About_Parliament\/Parliamentary_Departments\/Parliamentary_Library\/pubs\/rp\/BudgetReview201415\/DefencePersonnel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than 31,000<\/a>, a 30% increase.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4893\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4893\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4893\" src=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army1-300x159.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4893\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exercise Predator&#8217;s Run 2018 (Photo: Bill Solomou\/Department of Defence)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Secondly, a significant re-equipping of the army is underway, moving the army from being an analogue communications, light infantry force with limited protection and firepower, to becoming a digital, mechanized combined arms team. Driving this is that the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.gov.au\/sites\/g\/files\/net1846\/f\/flwr_web_b5_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">army sees the future battlefield<\/a>\u00a0as being urban, focused in coastal regions, and against insurgents.<\/p>\n<p>While clearly this echoes the army\u2019s recent Middle East experiences, there is some prescience in this, given last year\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-philippines-militants\/philippines-declares-battle-with-islamist-rebels-over-in-marawi-city-idUSKBN1CS0F5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">battle for Marawi<\/a>. The Boxer buy fits all this.<\/p>\n<p>This outline also hints at its shortcomings. The army\u2019s program, while approved by government, is not really directly tied to the latest Defence White Paper strategy. The army has a well-defined understanding of the future battlefield it wishes to fight in, but this is less easily related to what the army wishes to achieve fighting as part of a joint ADF.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, its program has a strong digital network focus but technology is now moving more into robotics,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/airpower.airforce.gov.au\/APDC\/media\/PDF-Files\/Contemporary%20AirPower\/AP33-Algorithmic-Warfare-Applying-Artificial-Intelligence-to-Warfighting.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">artificial intelligence, and big data<\/a>. The new army chief has rightly stressed that the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.gov.au\/our-work\/from-the-chief-of-army\/australias-army-an-army-in-motion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">army is in motion<\/a>\u00a0with real change underway but its current direction may not be taking it to quite the right place.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4902\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4902\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4902\" src=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army2.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4902\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Australian army surveillance footage (Photo: Department of Defence)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The principal alternative seems to be to realign the army program to the strategic guidance set out in the latest White Paper. The big issue that overshadows all is China, which is developing a fearsome capability but whose intent is uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, war at the operational level in the islands and archipelagic waters north of Australia has been all about battles for airfields and ports so they can be used by friendly air and naval forces to undertake offensive operations. The future looks the same, except now the focus will be on defending airfields and ports from external attack from high quality state forces, not recapturing them. Counter-insurgency doesn\u2019t feature at all.<\/p>\n<p>The notion of defending airfields and ports doesn\u2019t however quite fit either the light screening robot force or urban warfare models. The light forces as envisaged are too specialised and context specific while it seems improbable Australia would be involved in future urban warfare in any China scenario.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4904\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4904\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4904\" src=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army3-300x152.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army3-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army3.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4904\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Night training (Photo: Al Green\/Department of Defence)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Of course, urban warfare might be very important again if ISIS re-emerges (<a href=\"http:\/\/iswresearch.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/isiss-second-resurgence.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">as seems likely<\/a>) or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowyinstitute.org\/the-interpreter\/trumpian-track-our-next-middle-eastern-war\">war with Iran<\/a>\u00a0breaks out. Both situations, however, would be wars of choice in a region the White Paper deems of lesser importance. Moreover, in a Trumpian world, Australia\u2019s participation may be uncertain and so should arguably not drive force development plans.<\/p>\n<p>Defending airfield and ports would be a considerable change. Notions of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.gov.au\/sites\/g\/files\/net1846\/f\/discussion_paper_01-14.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">manoeuvre through the archipelago<\/a>\u00a0involving amphibious assaults would be replaced by concepts of limited area defence involving\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mwi.usma.edu\/accelerating-multi-domain-operations-evolution-idea\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multi-domain operations<\/a>. For example, the army\u2019s air and missiles defence capabilities would need to be boosted considerably, and the idea of the army operating\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.gov.au\/publications\/army-insights-papers\/coming-to-terms-with-the-modern-way-of-war-precision-missiles-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coastal defence anti-ship missiles<\/a>\u00a0might be advanced. (This is similar to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/warontherocks.com\/2018\/09\/how-the-marines-will-help-the-u-s-navy-and-americas-allies-win-the-great-indo-pacific-war-of-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the ideas of some young-turks<\/a>\u00a0from the US Marines of deploying forces before a conflict starts to defend vital small islands and deter conflict.)<\/p>\n<p>The airfield and port defence concept also plays to some real army strengths: persistence and regional relationship building. It is a concept that would need deep embedding in peacetime to be able to rapidly implemented in crisis.<\/p>\n<p>It also overcomes some real problems. The\u00a0army\u2019s mechanised force plans carry big deployment and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/logisticsinwar.com\/2018\/01\/19\/transforming-australian-army-logistics-to-support-the-joint-land-force\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">logistic challenges<\/a>. These might make implementation impractical in a contested environment. Operating from a fixed location and being able to get there \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Nathan-Bedford-Forrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first with the most<\/a>\u201d makes best use of the ADF\u2019s limited deployment capabilities including its vulnerable small amphibious and sealift force.<\/p>\n<p>In this, emerging technology may work in Australia\u2019s favour. A small land force equipped with the latest semi-autonomous systems might have\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/smallwarsjournal.com\/jrnl\/art\/our-new-model-robot-armies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">much greater combat power<\/a>\u00a0than its personnel numbers might suggest. It might be time to ditch ageing concepts and embrace the future &#8211; and what the White Paper has set out.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4908\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4908\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4908\" src=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army4-300x147.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army4-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/australian-army4.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4908\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Department of Defence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"label author\">AUTHOR<\/div>\n<p><strong>Dr Peter Layton<\/strong> is a Visiting Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute.<\/p>\n<p>This article first appeared at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowyinstitute.org\/the-interpreter\/realigning-army\">Lowy Interpreter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PETER LAYTON\u00a0| The Australian Army is spending up big, announcing a $5.2bn contract for more than 200 Boxers (armoured reconnaissance vehicles from\u00a0Rheinmetall, as opposed to\u00a0Boxster\u00a0of the Porsche variety), while also releasing a tender for another\u00a0450 even bigger\u00a0and better armoured personnel carriers. While good for Australian industry and the winning states where the manufacturing jobs will<a href=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/realigning-the-australian-army\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Realigning the Australian Army&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,245],"tags":[745,846,800,1082,799,421],"class_list":["post-4885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-series","category-china-and-north-east-asia","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-australian-army","tag-defence","tag-peter-layton","tag-security","tag-south-china-sea"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Jill Moriarty","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Realigning the Australian Army | Griffith Asia Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PETER LAYTON\u00a0| The Australian Army is spending up big, announcing a $5.2bn contract for more than 200 Boxers (armoured reconnaissance vehicles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/realigning-the-australian-army\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Realigning the Australian Army | Griffith Asia Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PETER LAYTON\u00a0| The Australian Army is spending up big, announcing a $5.2bn contract for more than 200 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