Capt. Daniel Clarke, 46th Test Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, explains the U.S. Navy Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) system, which flies over beach zones to detect minefields and obstacles.
The 96th Test Wing and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Florida, are working together to test this airborne mine detection system.
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE
12.09.2022
Video by Jaime Bishopp
96th Test Wing Public Affairs
By Robbin Laird
In my discussion with Commodore Darron Kavanagh, Director General Warfare Innovation, Royal Australian Navy Headquarters, he emphasized that one way to look at the contribution of maritime autonomous systems was in terms of the mission threads to which they contribute.
As CDRE Kavanagh underscored: “One of the issues about how we’ve been looking at these systems is that we think in terms of using traditional approaches of capability realization with them. We are not creating a defense capability from scratch. These things exist, already, to a degree out in the commercial world, regardless of what defense does. AI built into robotic and autonomous systems are in the real world regardless of what the defence entities think or do.
“And we have shown through various autonomous warrior exercises, that we can already make important contributions to mission threads which combat commanders need to build out now and even more so going forward.”
And that is clearly a good way to understand the contribution already being made by the Bluebottle USV designed, developed, and built by Ocius. During my trip to Australia last September, I had my first discussion with Robert Dane, the founder and CEO of Ocius who introduced me to the product and in my recent trip I received an update from him April 6 and then visited the Ocius facility in Sydney on April 21.
During the April 6 discussion, I received an update on the product and will discuss that update in the terms suggested by Commodore Kavanagh in this article. I will discuss the visit to the Ocius facility in a future article.
The Bluebottle USV is a USV which provides persistence surveillance. As one source describes it: “The Bluebottle USV harvests solar, wind and wave energy to remain at sea for months at a time, making a forward speed of up to 5kt. It remains in touch with a shore station using on-board communications systems and deploys a range of above water and underwater sensors to detect and track targets, including underwater objects, sea mines, surface vessels and other USVs.”
On their webpage, the company identifies four basic attributes of the USV in its description of the platform. It has a folding solar sail, a unique rudder flipper, various payloads of sensors with an integrated and networked communication system, and a patented keel winch cassette.
Each attribute is described as follows:
“Solar Sail: When deployed, the patented hard solar sail harnesses both solar and wind energy. When not desired it automatically folds snuggly into the deck of the Bluebottle like the wing of a bird, so it’s 100% retracted but also not taking up precious payload space within the vessel. Intelligent programming means the solar sail reacts autonomously to the sea, sun & wind conditions to ensure efficient and safe operation for all mission requirements.
“Rudder Flipper: The patented rudder-flipper steers, guides and powers the unmanned vessel generating forward thrust from the pitching of the vessel in the waves of the ocean. The bigger the sea state the stronger the forces. In Seastates over Seastate 6 the solarsail automatically lowers and the rudder passively propels the vessel in the desired direction. If left in the mid position it passively turns the bow of the Bluebottle into the oncoming seas giving Bluebottles unprecedented seakeeping and survival capabilities requiring zero energy.
“Sensors and Communication: Multiple sensors are available as options underwater, inside the hull and on the aft comms mast. An Integrated and networked communication system allows live tracking. All vessels can be monitored while operating autonomously or controlled remotely, constantly sending data back to the control room.
“Keel Winch Cassette: The patented ‘reel in the keel’ winch is a cassette that displaces water ballast in the keel – so adding or changing a cassette does not interfere with the displacement or trim of the Bluebottle. The cassette can be flat packed and shipped to anywhere in the world for customers to install, commission and test their sensor or array on the winch before inserting it into the payload bay of a Bluebottle – being ready to go.”
In my April 2023 update, Dane provided an overview of ways the Bluebottle had been used by the Australian government in the past few months. We discussed three mission threads which Bluebottles have been used for in the past few months: support for the Army in amphibious operations; support for the government in fisheries protection; and in support of the Navy in shaping autonomous systems con-ops in the underwater warfare area.
The first was done in October 2022. The event and the role of the Bluebottle was described in a 22 November 2022 press release by the Australian Ministry of Defence as follows:
The seventh rotation of Army’s Regional Force Surveillance Group (RFSG) used Bluebottle USVs, developed by Ocius Technologies, which can provide a 24/7 on-water surveillance capability, with the flexibility to be readily maneuvered to respond to emerging surveillance requirements or tasks.
During the two-week deployment in October, the contingent conducted surveillance and reconnaissance on and around remote islands off north Western Australia for foreign fishing vessels and evidence of illegal activities. The contingent of 18 personnel was drawn primarily from Northwest Mobile Force (NORFORCE) and 10th Force Support Battalion, with attachments from the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and 1st Combat Signal Regiment.
Major Alexander Brent, the Maritime Border Command (MBC) Liaison Officer to Rotation 7, said the use of the Bluebottles, and the embedding of an Ocius employee within the task unit headquarters, added significant capability to the operation.
The trial by NORFORCE will likely inform future teaming with unmanned maritime assets to support amphibious and littoral combat manoeuvres. As one of three Regional Force Surveillance Units which form the 2nd Division’s RFSG, NORFORCE provides a persistent screen in northern Australia, living by the motto ‘Ever Vigilant’.
Several times a year the RFSG screen is supported by enabling assets, including medical teams, remote command-and-control nodes and Australian Border Force (ABF) assets to enhance the effectiveness of the screen as part of Operation Resolute.
NORFORCE Patrol Master, Captain Stephen Sewell, said the efforts increased situational awareness of illegal activities in the region. “The soldiers conducted surveillance from observation posts, dismounted patrols across the islands and patrols in the littoral environment by watercraft,” CAPT Sewell said.
The contingent conducted surveillance and reconnaissance of about 5500 square kilometres.
Major Brent said inter-agency cooperation was vital for the continued success of operations like Resolute.
“There is a very close relationship between the ADF and ABF, facilitated through MBC, which enables shared effort and the sharing of information to achieve better operational outcomes and security for Australia,” Major Brent said.
“At the local level, the Regional Force Surveillance Units have an intimate relationship with the Indigenous communities and leaders in their respective areas of operation, which is vital to the enhanced understanding of country, patterns of life and access across the north of Australia, all of which directly contributes to the land component outcomes for Op Resolute.
“When you add contractors, local councils, local land councils and private industry, who all have vested interests in northern Australia, the level of inter-agency cooperation required to ensure successful Op Resolute outcomes is immense.”
As Dane commented about working with the Army in this effort: “We provided over the horizon ISR and what I call the ‘google street view’ of the areas where they would operate. They could see a beach on a satellite but the satellites cannot provide the views which we can provide an amphibious force.
“We deployed from Broome 350 NM away about a week before the operation, arrived before the operation started, operated for 10 days in the exercise in an archipelago with strong currents, under control from Darwin and then sailed home, with each of the two boats covering around 1900 nautical miles.”
The second was done in January and February 2023. Here the Bluebottles were tasked with providing surveillance of fishing areas to assist the government in monitoring activity to help prohibit illegal fishing activities.
A 31 January 2023 Australian government press release described this effort as follows:
Uncrewed marine vessels known as “Bluebottles” have taken to the waters of Two Rocks and Jurien Marine Parks to stop illegal fishing in Australian Marine Parks.
Minister Plibersek has announced that Parks Australia is testing the efficacy of two uncrewed surface vessels during a 30-day trial through January and February to capture 24/7 real-time imagery of activity in the two marine parks off the Western Australian coast.
The trial will test technology to see if can be used into the future to monitor and prevent illegal fishing.
The 22ft solar, wind and wave-powered Bluebottles were developed by Australian company Ocius and launched from the Ocean Reef Boat Harbour in Western Australia. The vessels, which look similar to a small yacht, are equipped with 360-degree day/night infrared cameras, radar and satellite communications. They can autonomously monitor designated areas for months at a time.
The innovative Bluebottle technology will allow Parks Australia to monitor marine vessel activity across these two important marine parks that have previously been difficult and costly to patrol.
These new surveillance measures help to protect the plants and animal species in the marine parks including Western Rock Lobsters.
The annual migration of the Western rock lobster from the coast to deeper waters is known as the ‘whites run’ and attracts thousands of licensed cray fishers who target this prized species. To make sure the species survives, some areas in Marine Parks are designated “no take zones”.
Stopping illegal fishing protects the species and protects legal fishers who do the right thing, and who rely on lobsters for their livelihood.
The Bluebottle boats aren’t the first use of new technology to monitor Western Australia’s marine parks.
During last year’s Western Rock Lobster migration event, two underwater recorders called sound traps were installed at Two Rocks Marine Park to provide information on vessel activity in the park.
Drones with high resolution cameras are also being tested in no fishing zones of Australian Marine Parks to monitor marine vessel activity from the air.
Australian Marine Parks are special places and monitoring compliance breaches is essential to protect and conserve our rich marine life and biodiversity in these areas.
At Two Rocks Marine Park in the last financial year there have been 15 illegal recreational fishing incidents detected. The Government issued penalty infringement notices of $687 per incident as well as issuing official warnings.
Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP said:
“Marine National Parks are such special places. We need to protect the animals and plants that live there so future generations can see them in the wild.
“No-take zones are vital to protect threatened species, and also mean that surrounding areas see increases in fish stocks.
“Whilst most fishers do the right thing and stay in legal fishing zones, we aren’t afraid to crack down on those doing the wrong thing by fishing in the ‘no take’ areas. Fishing is not allowed in the National Park Zones of Australian Marine Parks.
“The new Bluebottle vessel technology will enable large marine areas to be monitored over longer periods of time.
“We’re testing the Bluebottles as a cost-effective addition to the current monitoring and surveillance tools we’re using. They join drones and sound traps as the latest technology we’re testing.”
Dane indicated that the effort has had the desired effect. “We sent two boats on a 30-day mission whereby we split time between two maritime sanctuaries. We obtained 19 identifications of the number and name of boats violating the sanctuary and each of these people received notice from the government. The result was immediate. After the notification, the word was out and the next weekend there were no violations.”
The third was completed recently at Autonomous Warrior 2023. In my meeting with Kavanagh, the Commodore indicated that this AW was different from the last. At the last AW, contractors were showing their wares and Kavanagh’s team was getting a chance to see what the various platforms and systems could do. This one was a dedicated underwater effort whereby only invited Australian contractors attended and were given various tasks to perform and evaluated in terms of their ability to perform.
Julian Kerr in a 1 December 2022 article by Australian Defence Magazine highlighted the Bluebottle coming to AW 2023 as follows:
“The first two of the five future Bluebottles will participate in the RAN’s Exercise Autonomous Warrior 2023, now disclosed to be taking place at Jervis Bay in March. Subsequent deliveries will take place in April, May and June.
“This latest iteration of Autonomous Warrior will also involve two Bluebottles – Barra and Bombora – fitted respectively with Thales Australia thin line fibre optic passive and active towed sonar arrays for anti-submarine warfare and surveillance missions. Both boats were named at an event at Ocius headquarters in Randwick on 25 November, happily coinciding with signature of the RAN contract the previous day.”
Dane indicated that the Navy had their own Blue Bottle USVs (they are buying five but had two at the exercise) involved in the exercise, and Ocius brought two of their own. This meant that four boats were involved in the exercise.
In short, the Bluebottle USVs are precisely doing what Commodore Darron Kavanagh said maritime autonomous systems will be asked to do by the Australian government – provide for enhanced mission capability for the ADF and the Australian government. As Australia and its allies begin to use these capabilities more, the creativity in working the integration of crewed and uncrewed platforms will no doubt deliver new capabilities and new concepts of operations.
Robert Dane and his team are on the ground floor of these developments and I will discuss this more fully when reporting on my visit to their facility in Sydney.
Featured Photo: Iwo Jima is about 100NM from this volcano being mapped by a Bluebottle USV. Credit: Ocius
7 March 2023
By Robert Dane
On Friday 3 March 2023, RADM Chris Smith, Commander of Australian Fleet, officially accepted the first two RAN Bluebottle USVs delivered under the Ausdefcon contract signed on 24 November 2022.
The dignitaries also toured Ocius’ new clean workspace, office space and watch floor in Building R14 on the UNSW Randwick Campus.
The two new Bluebottles will join Bluebottles BETH and BOB for naval exercises and for further evaluation in the persistent border patrol role
https://ocius.com.au/blog/20230307_navyhandover/
And here is the Australian Department of Defence’s press release on 6 March 2023:
The Minister for Defence Industry, The Hon Pat Conroy MP and Assistant Minister for Defence, The Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP, have welcomed the arrival of the first Ocius BlueBottle Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs) for the Australian Defence Force.
The Royal Australian Navy and Defence industry have worked together through a Defence Innovation Hub initiative to develop the Ocius BlueBottle USV, with two of the five vessels received.
“As a trading nation, surrounded by oceans, a sustained maritime security presence is essential for assuring our national economy,” Minister Conroy said.
“Autonomous capabilities and innovative technologies, such as the Ocius BlueBottle Uncrewed Surface Vessels, will assist our Navy in supporting Australian interests.”
“Powered by the wind, waves and the sun, the Ocius BlueBottle can autonomously monitor designated areas for extended lengths of time.”
Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite said the Ocius BlueBottle capability would strengthen our Navy’s ability to protect Australia’s trade routes, shipping, and marine resources to help secure Australia’s ongoing economic prosperity and national security.
“Uncrewed Surface Vessels will also provide the Navy with a platform for continuous experimentation, including support to other autonomous surface and sub-surface systems,” Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite said.
“The remaining three Ocius BlueBottle USVs are expected to be delivered by July 2023.”
Ocius Technology Ltd is an Australian Sydney-based engineering company developing and delivering autonomous solutions for maritime surveillance.
By Robbin Laird
During my recent visit to Australia in March-April 2023, the main focus of attention was on the re-set of Australian defence to deal with the evolving strategic challenges in the Pacific. An important area for expanding the reach and viability of the ADF in its regional focus on the direct defense of Australia is upon building out an effective, redundant, and survivable distributed ISR set of networks to serve the ADF and the nation in their efforts.
At the Williams Foundation Seminar held on 30 March 2023, Jake Campbell, a former RAAF officer involved in such efforts and now working at Northrop Grumman Australia on the Triton, sketched the way ahead in his presentation on layered ISR capabilities within Australia’s evolving deterrence strategy.
I continued this discussion with Wing Commander Keirin Joyce who has dealt with uncrewed systems within the combat force both as an Army and now as an Air Force officer. Currently, he is Program Chief Engineer RPAS (MQ-4C Triton) at Royal Australian Air Force.
We started by discussing Triton and its progress in terms of coming into the ADF. And we then moved to the broader discussion of the evolving ISR/C2 ecosystem of which Triton is a part of an evolving capability for the ADF.
The point can be put bluntly: one can discuss Triton as a platform, but that really would miss the major point – it is a contributor to an evolving mesh of elements making up an ISR web which is being crafted to provide the force with a common operating picture to enable continuity of operations in even high intensity operations.
As Joyce noted in our last interview, Triton as a platform can be understood this way: “In effect, Triton is a very low Earth orbiting satellite, and it helps monitor a wide area of interest from the sensors because it operates at such a high altitude. We can move this sensor rich aircraft to a specific area of interest. And that is the huge advantage of Triton…”
In our meeting in April, Joyce provided an update on the program for the Australian Triton. “Our first airplane is almost finished on the production line. It will then enter the U.S. Navy certification and calibration process and will come to Australia in about a year from now. There are two other airplanes in production. We are a cooperative partner in the program, so we are already looking at the upgrade path, even before the delivery of our first plane. Upgradeability is built into the airplane and as a cooperative partner we are participating in the upgradeability process on the ground floor.”
Much of our discussion focused on the eco-system which Triton is to be part of and the need to help build it. There is the evolving Australian space effort which is seen in the defence project JP9102. As Triton is highly complementary to what Australia is likely to do in space, how Triton and its data will interact with the payloads in space and the data they provide is part of the overall ISR/C2 defence effort.
Electronic warfare is being re-worked into counter-ISR efforts which Admiral Paparo in my interview with him in late April indicated was a key element of the evolving deterrence strategy as well. Joyce discussed the enterprise approach to ISR, and an Australian specific capability which is designed to contribute to the way ahead in the EW part of ISR, namely, MC-55A, the Peregrine manned aircraft.
As Dan Parsons and Tyler Rogoway described this program: “The airframe, configured with what have been described as “airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare” (AISREW) mission systems, bristles with antennas and has a recognizable belly “canoe” that contains additional sensors…. It is not known for certain what capabilities Australia’s MC-55A will have, but based on the name and equipment seen on the aircraft, it is likely to perform some combination of electronic warfare (EW), signals intelligence (SIGINT), and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. We can also expect it to be capable of working as a networking relay and data-fusion platform that will tie other RAAF aircraft and ships together digitally.”
The key point made in my discussion with Joyce was that the Triton coming into the broader EW/ISR/C2 enterprise was being done with a clear focus on the various elements of a broader enterprise and effort, rather than simply a platform-specific one.
This led naturally to the question of the evolving ground system architecture for receiving information from the enterprise and to an ability to move data to a variety of access and processing points.
When I visited the Edinburgh base near Adelaide in 2017, it was already evident that a major ground station processing effort was being built there to handle P-8 and Triton. Joyce indicated that ground station modernization is a key part of the ecosystem which can exploit information provided from Triton as part of the wider enterprise. While the facilities at Edinburgh will be a key hub able to deliver relevant data to military and government users, the ADF is working on distributed data capabilities as well.
Finally, Wing Commander Joyce highlighted that with the U.S. Navy and the RAAF both operating the Triton, working cooperative operations can clearly be envisaged as Australia and the U.S. Navy will compliment areas of operations of significance to both countries to enhance the ISR/C2 capabilities of both.
And as the ADF builds out its longer-range strike capabilities, having the Triton as an asset to assist in the targeting process will be important as well.
In short, Triton comes at a key time in the evolution of ADF capabilities to enable longer-range effects from Australia out into the region. Joyce commented that what will be interesting to note ‘is this enough’? He thinks Australia will need even more assets, and uncrewed/automated/autonomous assets are probably the answer in the current challenging climate of attracting and retaining workforce.
The featured photo shows former RAAF AP-3C TACCO SQNLDR Neale Thompson. Thompson is the first international partner to operate the MQ-4C Triton. (US NAVY, 2019)
For Jake Campbell’s update on the Triton, see the following:
U.S. Air Force aircrew members assigned to the 8th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron transport cargo on a C-17 Globemaster III in support of Exercise Juniper Oak, within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Jan. 19, 2023.
Juniper Oak is a large-scale bilateral exercise, aimed to enhance interoperability between U.S. and Israeli armed forces contributing to regional security.
01.19.2023 V
ideo by Tech. Sgt. Daniel Asselta
United States Air Forces Central
In a 20 April 2023, an article by Gregor Ferguson in The Australian provided an overview of the Ghost Shark program.
In that article, the author highlighted the anticipated role of the XL-AUV or extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. “Make no mistake, (XL-AUVs) will be a game-changer,” said former Royal Australian Navy Head of Navy Capability Rear Admiral Peter Quinn when he officially named the XL-AUV the Ghost Shark last year.
“They will provide militaries with a persistent option for the delivery of underwater effects in high-risk environments, complementing our existing crewed ships and submarines as well as our future uncrewed surface vessels.
“The Ghost Shark program will create uncertainty in the minds of our potential adversaries and will deter both illegal and coercive behaviour,” he added.
“Due to their modular and multi-role nature, our adversaries will need to assume that their every move in the maritime domain is subject to our surveillance, and that every XL-AUV is capable of deploying a wide range of effects, including lethal ones.”
“Exact roles and performance targets are classified, but to achieve these goals, it will be modular, customisable and optimised with different payloads for different missions.”
I met with David Goodrich OAM, Executive Chairman and CEO of Anduril Australia and Asia Pacific at his office in Sydney on April 21 to get an update on the program.
The Ghost Shark program is a jointly funded and managed project with Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Anduril Australia (Anduril). Anduril is contributing $70 million to the project and using technology from its Dive LD capability and Lattice artificial intelligence-powered operating system as starting points.
Anduril brought their Dive LD commercial AUV to Australia as a testbed vehicle to expedite development of the XL-AUV. The Dive-LD is a commercial product used for a variety of offshore missions for companies needing to do littoral and deep-water survey and inspections.
Anduril is developing the XL-AUV platform for both commercial and defence applications, with the Ghost Shark being the defence-specific platform with defence payloads defined by the RAN.
Three prototype XL-AUVs will be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy over three years. Each prototype will be iterative, using agile engineering approaches. As Goodrich describes the approach: “Each prototype will build upon and improve upon the previous one. By the time we have the third prototype in the water, it will be a deployable capability that can be manufactured at scale. This is the Anduril way.”
In fact, the Anduril team is already focusing on what is needed to deliver an at-scale manufacturing program to the Commonwealth. As Goodrich explains: “We are designing the Ghost Shark with the manufacturing process front of mind so that, at the end of the three year program, we can manufacture capability at scale. This is standard practice in the commercial world, but not so much in the traditional defence environment.”
He noted that China has successfully accelerated the build-up of their military by leveraging the commercial sector effectively. Liberal democracies need to shape their own variant of this strategy and embrace the innovation and agility available in the commercial sector. Clearly the Ghost Shark program is cut from this cloth.
The iterative design and upgrade process will be core to the program as it is implemented as well. Anduril is a ‘software first’ defence tech company that believes software-defined hardware-enabled defence capabilities can transform defence and restore competitive advantage. Goodrich underscored: “Because we’re not building crewed platforms, our engineering cycles can be a lot faster and more agile. Our objective is to get a minimum viable product into the hands of the defence customer as quickly as possible and have that customer shape the evolution of the product through actual use over a very short period of time.”
Not only does the defence customer need capabilities delivered more rapidly than through a traditional acquisition process, but rapid upgrades in conflict are key to mission success. As Goodrich warned: “In conflict, as we have seen in Ukraine, you can’t wait months for upgrades at high cost. You need to have a software-centric approach to retain the transient advantage in combat. Upgrades must be provided in days, not months and not at a cost of millions of dollars.
“Using a software first approach, we can push live updates of our software code to respond to adversary countermeasures in real-time. This refreshes our transient advantage on the battlefield. We can move faster than competitors and give our warfighters the capabilities they need to win. They deserve nothing less..”
Featured Photo: From left: Dr Shane Arnott, Anduril Australia’s Senior Vice President of Engineering and, effectively, chief designer of both the XL-AUV and the Boeing MQ-28A Ghost Bat; Rear Admiral Steve Hughes; Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro AC; Rear Admiral Peter Quinn (retired); and David Goodrich OAM, Executive Chairman and CEO of Anduril Australia & Asia Pacific; stand in front of the Dive LD autonomous submarine which is much smaller but uses the same Lattice OS as the Ghost Shark and will be used by Defence for technology acceleration, testing and validation as it develops the Ghost Shark.
For an overview of defence autonomous systems and their development, see section five in the following book which we have just published:
A non-flyable F-35C Lightning II airframe is flown as part of a CH-53K King Stallion external load certification lift Dec. 13, 2022, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
The structure is from the first F-35C carrier variant aircraft, CF-1, a former developmental flight test jet from the Patuxent River F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF). ITF test teams collaborated with Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1) and a Marine helicopter support team with Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 24, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group to conduct the lift. P
ATUXENT RIVER, MD, UNITED STATES
12.13.2022
Video by Dane Wiedmann
F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF
By Robbin Laird
I met with Ross Babbage on 5 April 2023 in Canberra to discuss his new book and his assessment of the way ahead in building credible deterrence of the China of President Xi.
Ross Babbage in his new book, The Next Major War: Can the U.S. and its Allies Win Against China? takes the wider view of the Chinese military challenge.
Rather than limiting himself to a force-on-force analysis, he looks at the broader nature of the war the Chinese have prepared themselves to fight and examines the situation which the liberal democracies have put themselves into with decades of globalization and accepting Chinese intrusions into their domestic economies and politics.
This is an important book and reflects the serious thinking and work which Babbage has devoted himself to over the past few years. One of the remedies which Babbage believes necessary to get the West into “fighting shape” is for the strategic leaderships in the West to discuss frankly with their publics all of the dimensions of the strategic challenge we now face. Babbage himself very much contributes to such leadership.
In our recent Williams Foundation seminar, we focused on the re-orientation of Australian defence in shaping and contributing to a wider national and alliance deterrent strategy. In my discussion with Babbage, we focused on what he considers the three key elements to being able to shape broader defence capability.
For Babbage, shaping a broader defence capability is not just about the ADF and its own operational capability. “If you’re looking at it from Beijing’s point of view, they’d have to think very carefully about messing with us for we do have a very capable although small military and we have even more powerful friends.”
But the ADF lacks strategic depth and sustainability. As Babbage noted: “We are in danger of being a one-month operational military in case of conflict due to the lack of economic and industrial depth, such as the provision of fuels and key munitions and spare parts.”
The second aspect for Australia is its alliance structure.
As Babbage underscored, Australia has focused upon ramping up its alliance working relationships to the point where its own forces can more effectively integrate with the Americans and are working towards greater cooperation with other allies as well, notably the Japanese.
The result is clear: “The sum of alliance efforts is greater than any of the parts. This is a consideration which Beijing has to realize is not working to its advantage. The Chinese threat has drawn many nations in the Pacific closer together to resist authoritarian interference.”
And it is not just Pacific allies: a number of European states have woken up to the realization that China directly threatens their interests, and they have to find ways to contribute to the deterrence of China as well. Babbage noted: “We will cooperate with a range of others, including a number of relatively powerful and capable Europeans with whom we have long-standing partnerships.”
And that led to the discussion of the third element in Australian deterrence, developing more effective regional partnerships. Here he discussed evolving relationships with India, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian and South Pacific countries. Australia is working hard to develop closer military, security, economic, technological and diplomatic relationships that can strengthen regional cooperation and deterrence.
Working with its neighborhood much more directly and effectively is a key part of shaping the way ahead for Australia’s deterrence strategy.
But beyond these three key elements for shaping the way ahead for Australian deterrence, an important broader question is the need for a national and alliance-wide efforts to strengthen strategic sustainability and endurance. We did not discuss this at length in this meeting, but it is the core of the analysis in his new book.
The challenge is to move from the near and mid-term efforts at enhanced national military capability and allied interoperability to a stronger capability for resilient societies that empower enduring forces, not just one-month militaries. The close allies need to review and restructure their strategic supply chains as a matter of urgency to reinforce each others’ economic and industrial strengths and cover their respective weaknesses.
New levels of allied cooperation are required along with new planning and management mechanisms. These initiatives are needed urgently if the allies are to have a credible deterrent going forward and if they are going to be able to endure and sustain themselves in the event of major conflict.
Also, see the following:
Meeting the Chinese Military Challenge: Taking the Wide View
By David Beaumont
National Defence: Defence Strategic Review was released to the public on 24 April 2023, to a defence ‘community’ only too eager to scrutinise the document for its consequences on the ADF’s capability mix.
The paper, of course, covers a swathe of topics and concepts. It describes the reasons that a change to Defence’s pattern of business is necessary while doing, as reviews must do, extolling that Australia’s circumstances have changed.
Unfortunately, and because there is only so much material that can be covered in a single document, National Defence’s readers might be left uncertain as to what the topics and concepts of the document mean, and what must be done by Defence accordingly.
There is an important emphasis on the ADF’s logistics capabilities, functions and concepts in National Defence – more than usual when compared to other Government policy documents of recent years.
Moreover, the traditional focus on logistics through the lens of capability acquisition and sustainment has – perhaps – transitioned a more helpful narrative concerning the role of logistics and national-level preparedness.
However, and because so the overall conversation about logistics is so muted, with so little written, and it being a topic people tend to think is quite technical and conceptually uninfluential, it’s easy for those conversing about National Defence to fail to engage with the logistics implications of the paper.
National Defence requires the ADF to develop a northern Australia network of bases ‘to provide a platform for logistics support, denial and deterrence’ (p19). This requirement centres on the mechanics of basing by focussing on air bases, shipyards and barracks – all of which must be dispersed and part of a resilient network with in-built redundancy to enable integrated defence. Fuel and ammunition feed into the discussion of force posture, and the importance of exercises to build ‘preparedness including minimum viable improvements in key areas’ is also clear (pp 78-80).
Logistics is the connective tissue of force posture, ensuring the viability of forces by the timely (and time-dependant) provision of personnel, materiel, stores and supplies.
Force posture is underpinned by supply chains, distribution and the technical systems – military and civilian – that ensure that the right ‘stuff’ gets to the right location. It is underpinned by stockholding concepts that ensure sufficient resources are kept, transport management plans and policies and concepts for working with national partners when needed.
Force posture without the logistics arrangements to allow such connections to be made is little more than window-dressing with respect to strategic threats. In other words, it is imprudent to rush forward to force posture outcomes if the logistics arrangements required cannot be produced.
It will also be critical for the ADF to consider concepts relating to force projection: from receiving forces at particular locations, equipping and preparing them for deployment or movement, to consolidating forces at forward locations relative to threats, and the command and control measures required to ensure this happens in a well-coordinated and efficient manner.
Points and ‘mounting’ locations should be chosen to act as places where logistics control can be exerted at a time of crisis; where headquarters can manage the influx of civilian and military resources necessary to support subsequent military operations.
National Defence offers a clear signpost that there is a need for Defence, if not the Nation, to reconsider how it views preparedness and its relationship with logistics (p81). The idea of accelerated preparedness speaks to concepts such as mobilisation, force scaling and force expansion. These are ideas that are fundamentally logistics-related in their nature and is counter to the tendency to assume that having forces available at the outset of a conflict is a realistic measure of overall preparedness.
The rotational models of force preparedness used to sustain operations in the Middle-east over the last two decades have tended to obscure the logistics problems which must be resolved by the Government, and ADF, in the years ahead. That there should be a ‘reshaping and growth of the national and Defence logistics and health workforce … to improve national resilience’ is recognition of stranglehold of logistics on what the ADF can and cannot do at a time of need (p81).
Importantly, the idea of Accelerated Preparedness, recognises the essentiality of the national support base, and national resilience, to military performance. Guided-weapons and fuel enterprises are the tip of a proverbial iceberg with respect to the type of national support arrangements needed to insure logistics sovereignty.
However, and in my view more importantly, Accelerated Preparedness requires an investment in the ability of the ADF to enunciate the circumstances under which engagement on strategic logistics issues should be managed, and relationships developed.
The idea of national support should not surprise readers of Logistics in War, it being a topic of frequent discussion topic on this site and raised in a submission to the Defence Strategic Review. National support speaks to a consolidated, preparedness-centric, approach to strategic logistics in the ADF, but also presents a substantial opportunity for the ADF to reinforce its strategic logistics ‘muscles’ by better integrating what it does in the context of whole-of-nation logistics capability and capacity.
Although National Defence recommends – in principle – the creation of a National Support Division, what will be most important in the immediate future is how responsibilities and accountabilities within the ADF – for national support is an ADF responsibility as it deals with its preparedness requirements – help the ADF logistical prepare.
A section on ‘theatre logistics’ in National Defence is arguably more practically relevant to ADF in the short term, though to resolve capability gaps in ADF logistics capability and capacity will require a long-term program. The recognition that Government, and Defence, must reinvest in Defence logistics and health capacity is instructive to a more serious view of preparedness than in the past – as alluded to above.
Theatre-level logistics is described in terms of the military supply-chain, with important national support overtones; it will be important that strategic and theatre logistics approaches are developed in a unified fashion. This is, of course, a normal goal for logistics planners to have.
One of the habitual challenges to the reform of logistics relates to how it is managed, let alone funded, in military organisations. As prospective logistics systems are complex and complicated, with multiple owners who have different resourcing and management priorities, it can be difficult for militaries to coherent approach the redevelopment of their logistics processes. It is possible that the emphasis given to guided weapons and fuel creates another wedge between organisations, and a potential source of friction to be managed in a crisis.
However, that National Defence identifies two Commanders – Joint Logistics and Joint Health – as requiring ‘adequate resourcing’ can only be seen as an important reinforcement of their role in the context of ADF preparedness.
There is much to infer from National Defence: Defence Strategic Review, and important pieces of context missed in the public version of the document. However, at face value, the direction given to Defence clearly associates logistics with Defence preparedness and even national resilience. This is extremely positive, especially in comparison to other policy statements issued over the last two decades. Naturally, there is a way to go to realise the intention of the document as many sceptical commentators point out. From the perspective of a logistician, however, it’s safe to say they’re at an important interlude.
A change in the way Defence preparedness and logistics is being considered in reviews is underway. Richard Betts, in Military readiness: concepts, choices and consequences describes preparedness as coming from a choice about the balance between ‘investment’ and ‘consumption’ (Betts, R., Military readiness: concepts, choices and consequences, The Brookings Institution, USA, 1995, p. 45)
National Defence, in many ways, is recognising that Defence must rebalance its approach to preparedness to the latter from the former. Ideas such as ‘minimum viable capability’ based on capability delivery in the ‘shortest possible time’ are incredibly significant for planners and logisticians in Defence to grasp (p 20).
It is unlikely that a transfer of funds and interest from acquisition to methods to scale and improve sustainability will be all that is needed; there is a cultural and change management aspect to the reform of Defence logistics that will be required to fully leverage the time available.
As we conceptualise how Defence works to better prepare itself for the threats considered in National Defence, it is worth remembering the idea of logistics preparedness.
Anything that is developed must be done so with the appropriate plans and policies in mind, the organisation structured appropriately and resourced needed, with logistics capabilities well resourced and integrated, and with a regime of exercising and assessments conducted to ensure that the ADF is responsive, and its operations are sustainable. This must be achieved while Defence reforms in the wake of National Defence, and in a state of heightened preparedness.
There is nothing in National Defence that will be easy to implement, or in its implementation be free of angst. Nonetheless, the document does present an opportunity to achieve important – vital – outcomes for Defence that must be taken.
The success of ADF operations in the future may depend on it.
This article was first published on Logistics in War.