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The video highlights the ceremony which marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, June 6, 2019.
The ceremony was the apex of more than 80 events commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the largest multi-national amphibious landing and operational military airdrop in history and highlighted the U.S. steadfast commitment to European allies and partners.
More than 1,300 U.S. service members, partnered with 950 troops from across Europe and Canada, to converge in northwestern France to take part in the events that began June 1 and will continue until June 9.
Australia’s new chief defence scientist says she has taken on the role at a time when the Australian Defence Force is becoming increasingly receptive to game-changing capabilities.
‘That, to me, is really critical’, Professor Tanya Monro says.
A physicist, Monro was working in Britain 15 years ago when she was asked by what is now Defence Science and Technology (DST) to return to Australia to set up a photonics research facility in Adelaide. Photonics is the science of light—how it can be generated, detected and made use of—and it’s a key research area for Defence in the development of sensors, lasers and new optical materials.
Now she is in charge of DST, having taken over from Alex Zelinsky, who has become vice-chancellor of Newcastle University.
Monro will oversee the investment in key projects of the $730 million Next Generation Technologies Fund. ‘The whole intent of Next Gen is to put the focus on things that will disrupt and support and create capability edge for the ADF. That includes identifying things that adversaries would potentially put into the mix that could disrupt our current approach to safeguarding Australia’, she says.
So are there more ideas out there as good as the Australian-designed CEAFAR phased-array radar and the Nulka ship defence system?
‘I absolutely think there are, but we can’t do all of them. We’ve got to have the conversation to decide on the really big things we can do on a national scale. Ideally they’ll be in areas where we’ve already got an edge’, Monro says.
One such area is in space technologies, in using and harnessing small satellites and constellations of small satellites. Others are in quantum computing and hypersonics. ‘It’s everything from new materials that will change how we protect our serving personnel, right through to new ways of integrating information that comes from multiple elements of a conflict in a way that can allow you to make better decisions.’
Autonomy is a big area of focus for DST, along with machine learning and artificial intelligence.
‘There’s no question we’re moving into a world where data is becoming more complex, rich and ubiquitous. And where understanding, processing and turning data into information to support decision-making is becoming more and more critical. This is absolutely key for us. One thing that strikes me in this place is you lift the lid and you look, and just the range and number of things being worked on is mind-blowing. And in most of those, we’re closely partnered with the ADF’, Monro says.
‘The game is to try to think big and work on some of these really challenging longer-term areas because there’s no point having the best solution to today’s problems if something new comes and knocks that over.’
No other such institution is so deeply enmeshed with its partners than DST is with the ADF’s combat personnel, Monro says. ‘That means our people, whether they’re an early career researcher coming straight from the university system or someone who’s been here for decades, get that intimate understanding of the problems the fighters face.
‘The Next Gen program will allow DST and the ADF to harness the amazing capacity in the Australian research system across the 40-odd universities and other publicly funded agencies and see where we can align and shape the direction of some of the work that’s happening out there.
‘Together we can have bigger teams of really strong researchers tackling a smaller number of bigger problems. It’s more in the concept of expanding some national missions that are inspiring, exciting’, she says.
That will shape what’s happening not only within DST but more broadly across the universities and other institutions to build Australia’s future capability and mould some of the industry development that’s got to happen for the nation’s economic growth.
DST can’t do that by itself, Monro says, because it’s an organisation of just over 2,000 people and by itself it couldn’t provide the scale of effort and investment needed to develop some of these really big ideas.
‘You then need to have the mechanisms, the funding support to bring the best people together’, she says. ‘We’ve started to do that, and we’ll continue to develop that.’
The next step, she says, is to create an environment in which broad priority areas are narrowed down into specific big challenges, missions or questions that begin to shape what people do.
‘DST has a special role in that because we’re so meshed with the ADF we have an understanding of what might be some of the threats into the future, what we should worry about, not just today but in 10 years-plus’, says Munro.
‘And then we can help shape that conversation and narrow down to the problems we want to work on. Sometimes I think in Australia we lack that willingness to make a call, set priorities and tie them to funding.’
Monro says the goal is to harness the nation’s intellectual capital. ‘If you bring together the best people in the nation in a field, and you resource that conversation, you can create a roadmap for ideas on what might be possible.’
This article was published by ASPI on May 31, 2019.
Brendan Nicholson is defence editor of The Strategist.
A version of this article was originally published in the Australian.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, and other dignitaries, toured the South-West Pacific with the assistance of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
António Guterres visited Fiji, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu from May 14-18. His visited included attendance at the Pacific Islands Forum and bilateral talks with regional leaders.
Flown between the islands by No. 35 Squadron’s ‘Wallaby Airlines’ C-27J Spartan, he saw firsthand the impacts of climate change on the region.
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The squadron’s support also allowed the Secretary-General to speak directly with senior government leaders from across the South-West Pacific.
It was a high-profile ‘no fail’ task and Flight Lieutenant Luke Georgeson said everything went as planned for the VIP party of 21 passengers.
“We moved the Secretary General through Fiji, including Nadi and Suva, and then Tuvalu and finally Vanuatu,” Flight Lieutenant Georgeson said.
“They passengers included the UN Secretary General, the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister, Fiji and New Zealand High Commissioners for the region, along with media and other staff.”
The Spartan proved well suited for supporting the task, especially as it toured through Tuvalu.
“The airport at Tuvalu had a low pavement strength, a small apron, and we needed to deliver a relatively large group,” Flight Lieutenant Georgeson said.
“This meant the C-27J was the only RAAF aircraft able to adequately service this task.”
Whilst in Tuvalu, the crew was able to open the aircraft’s ramp in-flight.
With the UN Secretary General safely attached by a harness, he received a breathtaking view of the Pacific islands.
“His feedback was that it was the ‘best experience of my life’,” Flight Lieutenant Georgeson said.
His Excellency António Guterres said the picturesque view of the South-West Pacific contrasted with the sobering reality faced by many due to rising waters, natural disaster, and even climate-related disease.
Speaking after his visit to Tuvalu, Mr Guterres described it as “an entire country fighting to preserve its very existence”, and called climate change an “an existential threat”.
“Climate change cannot be stopped by the small island countries alone, it has to be stopped by the rest of the world,” Mr Guterres said.
“(This requires) transformational policies in energy, mobility, industry and agriculture.”
“To save the Pacific is to save the whole planet.”
This article was published by the Australian Department of Defence on May 30, 2019.
In a recent article published on May 24, 2019, the UK Ministry of Defence highlighted the UK role within the Baltic Protector exercise, notably by focusing on Joint Expeditionary Force.
A total of 3,000 military personnel and 17 vessels from nine nations will contribute to the first major maritime training deployment of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in the coming weeks.
Minister for the Armed Forces Mark Lancaster said:
“From Denmark to Lithuania, from Sweden to Estonia, Baltic Protector will leave potential adversaries in no doubt of our collective resolve and ability to defend ourselves.
“This force is a key component of European security, a force of friends that complements existing structures and demonstrates that we are stronger together.”
Baltic Protector marks the first deployment of the UK-led JEF Maritime Task Group, with command of the group conducted by the Royal Navy’s HMS Albion.
Today she joins forces with vessels and personnel from Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and the Netherlands for the start of integration training in the western Baltic and eastern North Sea – the first of three phases making up the deployment.
In June, the JEF will then demonstrate its ability to not only operate independently but also support existing multinational organisations when the task group will join NATO Allies on the US-led Exercise Baltops, taking part off Germany and Sweden.
The third and final phase of the deployment will see the task group link up with land forces in the eastern Baltic – including the UK-led battlegroup in Estonia which makes up part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence– by conducting a series of shore landings and raids.
Established at the 2014 NATO Summit and launched a year later, the JEF became fully operational with the signing of a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding last year in London.
As an adaptable high-readiness force that can be stood up anywhere, at any time and in any environment, the JEF can cover a range of tasks, including combat operations, deterrence, or humanitarian support.
The joint force is a clear example of collective strength. This joint working has been seen previously such as during the Ebola outbreak – as part of the response, the UK, the Netherlands and Norway combined resources on land, at sea and in the air.
This demonstrates the type of integrated mission the JEF could be mobilised to support.
Command of the JEF Maritime Task Group is being conducted from HMS Albion shown in the featured photo.
According to a story published by the UK MoD website on May 31, 2019, the latest intercept was highlighted.
The RAF jets scrambled yesterday (Thursday 30 May) to intercept two Russian SU-30 Flanker fighters, two SU-24 Fencer attack aircraft and an AN-12 transport aircraft flying off the north coast of Estonia.
Armed Forces Minister Mark Lancaster said:
Our commitment to NATO and European security is unwavering and our brave RAF pilots have shown once again that we are ready to respond to any threat to the UK and its allies. Alongside our NATO allies, we must remain vigilant and aware of Russian military activity.
This was a routine NATO mission for the Typhoons which took over the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission from the German Air Force last month. The presence in the Baltics provides reassurance that the UK is here to work in partnership with Estonia.
A Typhoon pilot from XI(Fighter) Squadron, attached to 121 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW), was conducting Quick Reaction Alert duty when the scramble was called. He said:
We were scrambled to intercept a group of four Russian fighters. The intercept was routine and we stayed with them for around 25 minutes during their transit from mainland Russia to the Kaliningrad oblast.
Once complete with this task we hauled off and conducted a further intercept of a Russian AN-12 aircraft travelling much lower and slower along the same route. The intercept of all five aircraft was uneventful and conducted in a professional manner throughout.
This is the fourth Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) scramble since the RAF deployed in April 2019 as part of Baltic Air Policing. The RAF operates alongside its NATO allies to deter Russian aggression and assure NATO allies of the UK’s commitment to collective defence.
RAF Typhoon and a Russian SU-24 Fencer attack aircraft. Crown copyright.
For our look at Quick Reaction Alerts, see the following:
In an article published on May 30, 2109, the Italian Ministry of Defence highlighted the importance of the Joint Stars 2019 exercise.
Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta today visited Decimomannu (Sardinia) on the occasion of Joint Stars 2019, the Defence most important exercise
“Over the last few yearsJoint Stars exercises have been a fundamental tool to assess the response capability – in full compliance with NATOtraining criteria- of our Armed Forces in the face of new crisis scenarios. Joint Stars 2019 pronounced joint, combined and interagency approach has given the exercise a much broader dimension as compared to the previous editions, confirming its very high value within the broader context of major Armed Forces exercises”.
This statement is an excerpt from Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta’s speech, held on the occasion of Joint Stars 2019 (JS19) exercise, presently being conducted in Sardinia. Accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Enzo Vecciarelli and by the Armed Forces and Customs Police top officers, the Minister attended the demonstration of a tactical event in the training area of Decimomannu base.
This year, for the first time, Comando Operativo di Vertice Interforze (COI) (Joint Command Operations), took part in the exercise –the most important one at the national level- as a Joint Command able to plan and conduct specific operational activities such as Small Joint Operations-SJOs/High Intensity, in environments characterized by cyber threats and Chemical, Biologic, Radioactive and Nuclear threats (CBRN), and witnessed the participation of personnel and assets from the Carabinieri Corps, Customs Police Corps, ENAV (Ente Nazionale per l’Assistenza al Volo), Fire Brigade and the Red Cross.
“In thiswaywe have givenJoint Stars a pronounced interagency approach, intended to test and develop an effective intervention capability, also within the context of a synergic cooperation with other State agencies”, Minister Trenta said.
“This kind of activities fully respond to the need to strengthen our Armed Forces’ capacities in a joint international perspective”, the Minister underscored. In her speech she also highlighted the value of the exercise as an “indispensable moment in terms of ensuring the effectiveness of our Armed Forces and, as a consequence, of our partners and allies, when faced with a, increasingly broad and insidious threat range“.
“Over the last few yearsJoint Stars has been an excellent opportunity in terms of interoperability, integration and participation, as well as for optimizing our resources in view of a future engagement in national, multinational and coalition operations”, Elisabetta Trenta added, recalling that the Armed Forces must be able to serve the State and support the Country and its citizens in all crisis and emergency situations.
In the future, in fact, Defence will increasingly be an integrated instrument within a broad “collective security” context, i.e. an integral part of a truly “national security general strategy”.
“Today, we live in a world characterized by increasing geopolitical instability, raising sensitive defence and security problems in terms of domestic and international security and defence. For certain, one such problems is preventing cyber threats“, the Minister explained, underscoring the need to have lines of intervention aimed at improving the management and control capabilities in tended to tackle this kind of threats, both within a military and civilian context. “This is an indispensable capability for all the countries who want to ensure the highest level of security for their citizens”.
Joint Stars 2019 is divided into 2 phases and is conducted at various locations in the national territory: the Tyrrhenian Sea, Rome, Taranto, Brindisi, Poggio Renatico, Trapani, Decimomannu, Pisa, Pratica di Mare, Amendola, Sigonella, Grosseto, Licola and Sardinia military ranges.
During my recent stay in Australia in April 2019, I had the chance to meet with RADM Lee Goddard, Commander of the Maritime Border Command. His command oversees the operational side of ensuring maritime security for Australia.
Because Australia has no land borders, dealing with challenges like migration, drug smuggling and a variety of gray zone threats, the Maritime Border Command is a major player in operations to ensure Australian sovereignty on its borders.
It does so by a whole of government approach, which includes the ability to use defense assets as a key part of its operational approach. It really is designed to provide for integrated operations to try to optimize Australian security, in a very challenging environment.
The challenge simply starts with how extensive the sea borders are around Australia. We focused in our meeting on the Northern waters and the challenges associated with those waters. But the broader picture is even more daunting in terms of surveillance and determining paths of action.
The reach North to New Guinea is where Australia almost reaches the land of a neighboring country. To the North is a key SLOC where significant trade comes into Australia, and to the West are the Malaccan straits.
Its narrowest point is at its southern opening, with a width of about 20 km (12 miles) between the islands of Lombok and Nusa Penida, in the middle of the strait. At the northern opening, it is 40 km (25 miles) across. Its total length is about 60 km (37 miles). Because it is 250 m (820 feet) deep[1] — much deeper than the Strait of Malacca — ships that draw too much water to pass through Malacca (so-called “post Malaccamax” vessels) often use the Lombok Strait, instead.
The Lombok Strait is notable as one of the main passages for the Indonesian Throughflow that exchanges water between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
The importance of this strait and the other straits coming into Australian waters is determined both the need to protect Australian territory and the security and safety of its maritime trade.
Graphic from 2016 Australian Defence White Paper
To provide for Australian maritime security, the focus has been upon three strategic directions.
First, the Australian government has a very clear set of regulations and laws governing immigration and approaches to dealing with security at sea.
As Rear Admiral Goddard put it: “I can act on suspicion; which allows us to be proactive in dealing with threats.”
Second, the force is organized as an integrated one, so that new capabilities coming into the ADF, like the P-8, Triton, Offshore Patrol Vessels and new frigates and other Australian Border Force assets can be leveraged as necessary for operations.
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Operation Resolute is a combined force approach to providing for perimeter defense and security of Australia.
As it was put on the Royal Australian Navy website:
Operation RESOLUTE is the ADF’s contribution to the Whole-of-Government effort to protect Australia’s borders and offshore maritime interests.
It is the only ADF operation that currently defends the Australia homeland and its assets.
The Operation RESOLUTE Area of Operations covers approximately 10 per cent of the world’s surface and includes Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone which extends up to 200nm around the mainland. Christmas, Cocos, Keeling, Norfolk, Heard, Macquarie and Lord Howe Islands also fall within the Operation RESOLUTE boundaries.
Commander Maritime Border Command (MBC) is the overarching operational authority that coordinates and controls both Defence and Australian Border Force assets from his headquarters in Canberra.
Maritime Border Command is the multi-agency taskforce which utilises assets and personnel from both the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to safeguard Australia’s maritime jurisdiction. Its maritime surveillance and response activities are commanded and controlled from the Australian Maritime Border Operations Centre in Canberra.
We discussed some of the new technologies which allow for greater SA over the maritime zones, but of course the challenge is to turn SA into ways to influence actors in the maritime zone.
“It does no good just to know something is happening; how do we observe but let the bad guys know we see them and can deal with them?”
Third, obviously IT and C2 are key elements of bringing the force to bear on the threats.
But doing so is a significant challenge, but one where new technologies and new capabilities to leverage those capabilities for decision making clearly are helping.
This is a work in progress where the Commander works with several government departments as well as industry to deliver more effective intelligence to determine where the key threats are to be found and being able to deploy assets to that threat.
Rear Admiral Goddard underscored that developments in the IT and decision tools area were already helping and would be of enhanced performance in the period ahead.
“With some of the new AI tools we will be able to process information more rapidly and turn SA into better decision making.”
Fourth, obviously this means working closely with partners in the region, such as Malaysian, Indonesia and the Philippines and shaping ways to operate more effectively with one another.
There are several examples of Australia expanding its working relationships with neighbors, which means as well finding ways to share information and to train together for common actions.
A challenge being posed by the Navies in the region is that they are clearly are generating what have been called gray zone threats.
This is why the Command is really part of more broadly understand security capability within an overall national crisis management effort.
And as the threats change or challenges change, the capabilities for the Command working with the ADF will need to change as well.
Editor’s Notes:
The description of the Command as provided on their web page is as follows:
Additional information was then provided as follows:
Deter, prevent, detect and respond to civil maritime security threats
Maritime Border Command uses an intelligence-led, risk-based approach to combat the civil maritime security threats within the Australia’s maritime domain.
Our dedicated Intelligence Centre collects, processes, integrates, evaluates, analyses and interprets information and intelligence to generate civil maritime domain awareness.
We use surveillance and identification systems such as the Australian Maritime Identification System to detect, risk assess and track vessels operating in or approaching our maritime zones.
We then tailor our operations to combat these threats with the support of surface and air assets.
Contribute to Operation Sovereign Borders
Operation Sovereign Borders is a military-led, multi-agency operation to secure Australia’s borders, combat maritime people smuggling and prevent deaths at sea.
We detect and intercept people-smuggling vessels that approach Australia, and carry out on-water operational responses including boat turn-backs where safe to do so.
Work with partner agencies and international counterparts
State, territory and Australian Government partner agencies guide our operations. Together, we work to provide a whole-of-government response to key civil maritime security threats.
We also collaborate with international intelligence and law enforcement authorities through information sharing, joint patrols and other cooperative arrangements.
Engage with industry
Maritime Border Command engages with industry by communicating with industry to advise of maritime actions that may impact on their businesses and advising of appropriate preventive security measures.
By complying with preventive security measures, the maritime industry also contributes to the ongoing safety of our maritime domain.
My own observations with regard to the challenges for the way ahead come from working with the USCG.
As the gray zone challenges become more dominant in the maritime security environment, a key challenge is getting the military and civilian sides of how to deal with the challenge.
It becomes less a law enforcement function and more one that is a crisis management challenge where various types of authorities need to be exercised.
And this has certainly been a challenge for the US in which we can use military force or do law enforcement but we are not as good as we need to be in terms of being organized for what falls in between.
And that is precisely the area that is growing in strategic importance and significance
The structure which the Australians have built with the Maritime Border Command can provide a good focal point for sorting out good ways to shape 21stcentury crisis management capabilities; but it too will be a challenge for them as well.
An illustration of who the interagency process works in Australia to deliver maritime security was provided in this February 27, 2018 article on joint patrol operations off of the East Coast of Australia.
Commander MBC Rear Admiral Peter Laver said the patrol provided an opportunity to gather intelligence and work closely with our partners, stakeholders and the broader community to inform them about what suspicious activity to look out for and how to report it.
“Local knowledge is a great source and is perfectly placed to recognise signs of illegal fishing, prohibited imports and other criminal attempts to breach our borders,” Rear Admiral Laver said.
“Our officers spend weeks at a time at sea, quite often out of view of the general public, but patrols like this allow us to demonstrate that no matter where you are around the Australian coast, we are never far away.”
ADV Cape Fourcroy Commanding Officer Lieutenant Ken Brown said the multi-agency patrol was a great way to foster collaboration and his crew was ready to tackle any civil maritime security threat.
“The opportunity to share our intelligence and operational expertise is invaluable to our work and increases Australia’s capability to disrupt illegal activity in our waters, whether it be foreign fishing, drug smuggling or any other civil maritime security threat,” Lieutenant Brown said.
“This was a great chance to showcase what we do and assure the Australian people that we are out on the seas, patrolling and protecting our waters and securing Australia’s borders.”
AFMA’s General Manager of Fisheries Operations, Peter Venslovas, said that collaboration between Australian authorities is paramount to ensuring the future of Australia’s marine life.
“AFMA works closely with other government agencies including ABF and the ADF on activities like deploying fisheries officers on joint patrols to further our work in deterring and combatting illegal foreign fishing,” Mr Venslovas said.
“Protecting the marine environment from threats of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activity is one of our main priorities.”
The vessel departed Cairns on 8 February 2018 and has visited ports including Bundaberg, Coffs Harbour, Sydney, and Brisbane.
Editor’s Note: In an interview we did with Rear Admiral Day of the USCG in 2010, he laid out the nature of the situational awareness effort to shaping a successful engagement effort:
SLD: Could you provide us with an overview of C4ISR works in the USCG?
Admiral Day: Let’s talk about how C4ISR is used in support of Coast Guard missions. And what changes have occurred—drastic changes—in the last 10 years and the drastic changes that are going to be needed even in the next five. These changes may or may not occur, because they may or may not make the funding threshold. In most cases right now, they are not going to make the funding threshold.
SLD: C4ISR is essential for a modern Coast Guard to function. Although ethereal to many, the glue, which holds the platforms together, is clearly C4ISR. Could you provide a sense of the shift in performance enabled by the new C4ISR systems?
Admiral Day: Let’s talk about just the Eastern Pacific drug mission. Let’s just use that as an example. In the old days, we literally went down there and bored holes in the water, and if we came across a drug vessel, it was by sheer luck. It might be on a lookout list, and we might happen to see it. Let’s fast-forward now to the 2000s and what we’ve started being able to do.
By being able to fuse actionable intelligence, and not only that, but intelligence communicated at light speed. So now, we’re to the point where we’re telling a Cutter to go point A, pick up smuggler B with load C. And we’re doing that in real time with delivery of a common operational picture, which has been fused with intelligence. That was unheard of 10 years ago.
SLD: So you’re contrasting on the one hand the hunt-and-peck method or the stumble across by chance method, versus having enough information to actually target a problem.
Admiral Day: And not only that, taking information from a wide range of intelligence sources and agencies that we can participate with and bringing it in and fusing it. And leveraging all those tools and being able to process that information to figure out anomalies and actually start doing these interdictions.
SLD: Could you contrast your experiences as a young sailor and a sailor doing the mission now?
Admiral Day: Well, it’s a whole different framework. The framework is shaped by most of the fusion of the information which is being done off the Cutter. The Cutter is merely a delivery mechanism for capability; the Cutter is now the point of the spear. It has enabled the networks and all the systems back ashore at our Command Centers and our Intelligence Coordination Centers, whether it’d be from Joint Inter-Agency Task Force (JIATF) South or whether it’d be our own.
This ability to communicate that to them in real time allows to literally send them a common operational picture: the X is already on your radar screen, and you say go to that target.
SLD: So the difference here is that in the first case, you’re just throwing a spear out to the ocean.
Admiral Day: And hope you hit something.
SLD: And where you land, hopefully somebody’s near the spear. So the way you’re thinking is we have this grid over an area, and your platforms are the customers, so to speak, or the enforcers.
Admiral Day: Absolutely. They’re the operational element that we are producing information for their mission execution.
SLD: The C4ISR systems are essential to changing the calculus of operations as well as enabling the USCG in its joint role as well?
Admiral Day: Yes. For example, in the eastern Pacific, that’s done in JIATF South, which is an interagency task-force, they’re doing the lay-down based on the information that they’ve got.
They’re getting the intelligence feeds as well we’re getting intelligence feed and feeding into it.
Rear Admiral Lee Goddard was promoted to his current rank and became the Commander Maritime Border Command in February 2019. Prior to this he was seconded as a Branch Head to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Lee Goddard joined the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1987 from Melbourne through the Australian Defence Force Academy where he completed his degree studies graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1989. In his final year he was appointed as the first Naval Academy Cadet Captain and was awarded the RSL Sword of Leadership on graduation. In the following year while completing Seaman Officer training at the RAN College (Jervis Bay) in 1990 he was appointed College Captain and awarded the Queen’s Medal.
Throughout his career he has served at sea in Australian, Canadian, Malaysian and US Navy warships, and on operations in the Middle East. He gained his Bridge Watch-keeping Certificate in early 1992 while serving on exchange with the Canadian Navy, in HMCS Yukon based in Victoria, British Colombia. Later in 1993-1995 he served as a Watch/Executive Officer onboard Australia’s national tall ship STS Young Endeavour and he has been posted overseas to Malaysia and Bahrain.
In 1996 he completed the RAN Principal Warfare Officer’s course where as dux he was awarded both the Sydney-Emden prize and the RAN Sword of Excellence. He was a member of the commissioning crews of the ANZAC Class frigates HMAS Arunta (Warfare Officer) during 1997 – 1999 and HMAS Stuart (Executive Officer) during 2001 – 2003. During 2006-2008 he commanded the ANZAC Class frigate, HMAS Parramatta, and the ship was awarded the Duke of Gloucester Cup in late 2008. Lee Goodard was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC), on Australia Day 2007, for service as the commander operations in the maritime component of Joint Operations Command.
Following on from his first sea command in 2008 he was appointed Commander Sea Training.In 2009 he was posted as an inaugural member of the ‘New Generation Navy’ Team, as the Deputy Director Transformation & Innovation working closely with the Nous Group that reported directly to the Chief of Navy.
He was then selected to attend the US Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island, where he joined the Naval Command College, graduating in June 2010 and was awarded the War College’s International Leadership Prize. He was subsequently asked to remain at the War College as an International Fellow, teaching within the Department of Strategy and Policy at the Masters level.
On his return to Australia in early 2011 he was appointed as the Director Military Strategic Commitments at the Australian Defence Headquarters, working within the strategic level of Defence and across Government. He returned to sea in late 2012 to assume command of the upgraded Anzac Class warship HMAS Perth. On promotion to commodore in late 2014 he assumed the role of Commander Surface Forces.
Rear Admiral Goddard was awarded a Master of Arts (International Relations) in 1996, is member of the Australian Naval Institute council and has previously served as councilor with the Australian Institute of International Affairs. He has contributed to a range of professional and academic journals focused on international affairs and security issues.
The featured photo shows then Commodore Surface Force, Commodore Lee Goddard, RAN, speaking with Leading Seaman Marine Technician Candice O’Keefe in the Central Control Station during his visit to HMAS Canberra, Jervis Bay.
HMAS Canberra is the first of two Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs), the largest ships ever built for the Navy.
The ship’s company is made up of 400 personnel from Navy, Army and Air Force.
HMAS Canberra was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy in Sydney on 28 November 2014.
Vela, the fourth Scorpene class submarine being constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited for the Indian Navy, was launched 06 May 2019, by Mrs Veena Ajay Kumar, wife of Dr Ajay Kumar, IAS, Secretary Defence Production, who was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
VAdm AK Saxena, CWP&A was also present during the launching ceremony. This event reaffirms the steps taken by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) in the ongoing ‘Make In India’ programme, which is being actively implemented by the Department of Defence Production (MoD).
The submarine was towed to Mumbai Port Trust, for separation from the pontoon, after which she will undergo rigorous trials and tests, both in harbour and at sea before delivery to the Indian Navy.
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The contract for the construction and Transfer-of-Technology for six Scorpene class submarines in series, has M/s Naval Group (formerly DCNS) of France as ‘Collaborator’ and are being built by MDL.
Cmde Rakesh Anand, Chairman and Managing Director, MDL said on the occasion that with the launching of the P15 B Destroyer ‘Imphal’ on 20 April 2019 and the, launching of Vela on 06 May 2019, were indeed some of the major events for MDL so far this year.
Presently Eight Warships and five submarines are under construction at MDL. MDL is one of the India’s leading shipyards with a capacity to meet requirements of the Indian Navy.
The Scorpene class of submarines can undertake multifarious tasks typically undertaken by any modern submarine which include anti-surface as well as anti-submarine warfare.
The transfer of technology involves appropriate technical support by Naval Group to MDL in the field of construction, integration and tests of the submarines in India which is achieved through transfer of technical data package to MDL through information system as well as on job training to MDL’s personnel on critical technologies.
Leveraging the experience and the transfer-of-technology of the Scorpene project, with enhanced and upgraded infrastructure, MDL, is ready for undertaking construction of the future submarines.
