Shaping a Way Ahead with Regard to Electronic Warfare: The Perspective from HAVOC

05/12/2020
By Robbin Laird With the strategic shift from the land wars to engaging in higher end conflict situations with peer competitors, electronic warfare and its role is changing as well. When Ed Timperlake and I visited Fallon in 2017, we met with members of HAVOC, the US Navy’s Airborne Electronic…

US and Spanish Cooperation: Eurofighters Working with Ospreys on Low Altitude Ops

05/12/2020
The picture above highlights the kind of collaboration which the United States is conducting with its Spanish allies from the Morón Air Base in Spain. In the photo, a USMC osprey is seen operating with Spanish Air Force Eurofighters in conducting low altitude detection and intercept missions against slow targets. The…

Staff Innovations at Sea: Shaping Fleet Wide Changes

05/11/2020
By Lieutenant Simon Brown Engineering innovation by technical sailors on board the Leeuwin-class hydrographic survey ship HMAS Melville has resulted in an increase in the maximum propulsion power available to support the ship’s involvement in task group operations, while improving the normal operating conditions for essential machinery. The propulsion motor room (PMR)…

The Evolving Role of the Fighter in the Integratable Air Wing: The View from TOPGUN

05/10/2020
With the developing relationship between sensors and shooters in the maritime kill web, what is the evolving role of the fighter? I had a chance to talk about these changes with the CO of TOPGUN, CDR Tim Myers. We started by discussing how he would compare and contrast his experience…

Digital Education for Digital Shipbuilding

05/09/2020
Australia’s first digital shipbuilding course began a month ago, changing traditional shipbuilding education in this country. The Diploma of Digital Technology is educating participants about digital technologies, connecting workers and information systems to ensure they learn and master the digital technology skills to work on the Government’s $35 billion Hunter-class…

A Plus Up for the Royal Australian Navy: Six New Patrol Boats from Austal

05/09/2020
By Australian Defence Business Review The Commonwealth has announced it will acquire six more Cape class patrol boats from Austal for the RAN as it seeks to support Australian industry during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The six vessels will be built at Austal’s Henderson yard in Western Australia, and will…

COVID-19 Crisis: Geopolitical Implications for Australia

05/08/2020
By Paul Dibb The coronavirus pandemic will affect the power of countries in different ways. The biggest impact will be reductions in the economic, and therefore military, strength and relative power of competing major states. The American historian Walter Russell Mead says that ‘the balance of world power could change significantly as…