The Australian Defense Minister followed the opening address at the RAAF Airpower Conference 2018 given by Air Marshal Davies with an overview of how she saw the evolving global situation and its impact on the ADF.
Senator the Honorable Marise Payne, the Minister of Defence, noted at the outset that although it was only two years since she addressed the 2016 airpower conference, it seemed almost an age ago compared to the world of 2018.
The changes in Europe, the United States, and Asia have created significant pull in the strategic environment and shifting demand sets as well.
She underscored the core shift in how Air Forces receive and use information and with the coming of both Growler and F-35 this would be accelerated as well.
She underscored the important role which Australia played in the region and growing expectations of partners in the region for that role to remain central as well.
She reinforced the core message from Air Marshal Davies concerning the need to shape a 21st century workforce in Australia to support the ADF as well going forward, given the pace and scope of technological change in the commercial and defense domains.
She concluded her comments as follows:
“This year’s Air Power program is a graphic picture of the breadth of the challenges that face all of us in the decades ahead, from space to cyber, from energy security to digital advancement.
Through this period of intense disruption, the Australian Government is investing heavily in our Defence Force to ensure that it stays on the cutting edge and we are building a workforce that is able to exploit the full potential of this new technology.
We can’t master all the challenges alone and we will need to leverage our international partnerships.
We want to have the most effective Air Force possible.”