Australia's Amphibious Capability
AN ESSAY ON the OPTIONS FOR the ADF TO strike the correct balance between the development of a joint amphibious capability and the raising, training and sustaining of the rest of its suite of capabilities?
By U5172061
Introduction
The Department of Defence is currently facing one of the most challenging situations since its conception. On one hand, the environment suggests Australia is entering time of increased strategic competition between major powers in our region.1 This has the potential to create a variety of possible futures for the country, some of which will include the emergence of significant threats to our national interests.2 On the other hand, the Government has moved to reduce the Defence budget significantly.3 There are …show more content…
‘Amphibious operations typically, and arguably uniquely, involve the close integration of all three Services and a number of other government agencies’.26 The ADF has developed a strategic level concept for the employment of the ADF Amphibious Capability titled Australia’s Amphibious Concept (AAC). The AAC describes the Amphibious Task Force (ATF), which represents the combination of the respective Services’ force elements and operational concepts.27 The ATF includes two discrete levels of capability, the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and Amphibious Ready Element (ARE). The ARG is to be capable of the full suite of amphibious tasks. The ARE, potentially as a sub-element of the ARG, is primarily focussed on the conduct of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief or NEO missions at very short notice.28 Both ARE and ARG include a force protection element tailored to the threat. A pictorial representation of the ARG and ARE is included in Figure 1 …show more content…
Strategic objectives are a clear statement of what the ADF needs to do to protect strategic interests from associated strategic risks.32 Prominent academic Hugh White highlights the importance of clear strategic objectives stating ‘the more clearly and explicitly we can define strategic objectives, the easier it will be to build forces that can achieve them, and achieve them cost-effectively’.33 Overly demanding strategic objectives will require significantly more capability investment to realise the necessary force structure. Appropriate objectives that mitigate strategic risks to an acceptable level, ensures the appropriate level of capability is
By U5172061
Introduction
The Department of Defence is currently facing one of the most challenging situations since its conception. On one hand, the environment suggests Australia is entering time of increased strategic competition between major powers in our region.1 This has the potential to create a variety of possible futures for the country, some of which will include the emergence of significant threats to our national interests.2 On the other hand, the Government has moved to reduce the Defence budget significantly.3 There are …show more content…
‘Amphibious operations typically, and arguably uniquely, involve the close integration of all three Services and a number of other government agencies’.26 The ADF has developed a strategic level concept for the employment of the ADF Amphibious Capability titled Australia’s Amphibious Concept (AAC). The AAC describes the Amphibious Task Force (ATF), which represents the combination of the respective Services’ force elements and operational concepts.27 The ATF includes two discrete levels of capability, the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and Amphibious Ready Element (ARE). The ARG is to be capable of the full suite of amphibious tasks. The ARE, potentially as a sub-element of the ARG, is primarily focussed on the conduct of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief or NEO missions at very short notice.28 Both ARE and ARG include a force protection element tailored to the threat. A pictorial representation of the ARG and ARE is included in Figure 1 …show more content…
Strategic objectives are a clear statement of what the ADF needs to do to protect strategic interests from associated strategic risks.32 Prominent academic Hugh White highlights the importance of clear strategic objectives stating ‘the more clearly and explicitly we can define strategic objectives, the easier it will be to build forces that can achieve them, and achieve them cost-effectively’.33 Overly demanding strategic objectives will require significantly more capability investment to realise the necessary force structure. Appropriate objectives that mitigate strategic risks to an acceptable level, ensures the appropriate level of capability is