By Robbin Laird One of Brendan Sargeant’s legacy to me was introducing him to a young professor, Dr. Andrew Carr who works on defence issues and is well along in writing a book on the history of Australian defence. Given the enhanced focus on the direct defence of Australia being…
By Pierre Tran Paris - France delivered weapons to Russia worth a total €344.9 million ($339.2 million) between 2012 and 2020, with a peak of shipments worth €81.7 million in 2014, the 2022 government report to parliament on arms exports said. That high point of French deliveries in 2014 occurred…
By Robbin Laird At first blush, some readers would expect a title that focused on maritime autonomous systems to focus primarily upon their role within the Royal Australian Navy, rather than looking at the role within the overall ADF. But because these systems are entering the force as it works…
By Robbin Laird I have known Wing Commander Keirin Joyce for a number of years, and last spoke with him at length after he chaired last year’s Williams Foundation Seminar on Next Generation Autonomous Systems. During the seminar, he highlighted an example of how current forces can use new uncrewed…
By Robbin Laird Enhancing C2 capabilities for the ADF in the near to midterm is a critical part of being able to deliver the kind of defense capabilities which Australia needs for its renewed focus on direct defense of Australia. During my current visit to Australia, I had a chance…
A great place to go to approach ways to answer that question is to visit The Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center or NAWDC which is best known to the public as “Top Gun.” When I last visited NAWDC in 2020 which I did twice in that year, it was very…
By Robbin Laird In my discussion with Marcus Hellyer, he highlighted the importance for Australia to prioritize the direct defense of Australia for the future evolution of the ADF. This is how he put it: “What is the Australian Defence Force (ADF) purpose-built for?” And here he posed what is…
By Robbin Laird I have recently arrived back in Australia after my last visit in March 2020. The pandemic gap years are now over and I have come to Australia as the new Labour government has launched a comprehensive defence review. Shortly after my arrival in Canberra, I had a…
