Building on its long history as a forward operating base, Darwin is ready to support our future submarine operations. Though it’s commonly seen as unsuitable as a home port for submarines, that doesn’t disqualify Darwin …
The Strategist on: "North of 26° south"
Last week, the Chinese government demonstrated its continued mastery of multi-layered messaging. Nary a news media outlet in the world failed to cover the show-stopping, muscle-flexing military parade held in Beijing to celebrate the 70th …
In part 1, I examined the hard limits on the F-35A’s unrefuelled range. Air-to-air refuelling can certainly help extend it. Tankers can substantially increase fighters’ time on station (that is, how long they can stay …
One of the ironies of the current debate about how Australia should adjust its military strategy in light of the changing great-power balance in the Indo-Pacific is that many of the participants—regardless of their views …
With Australia’s increasingly contested and uncertain strategic environment, defence diplomacy is more important than ever. The Australian Defence Force’s extensive and diverse training areas should play a key role in that effort. The Australia–Singapore military …
It’s been 12 months since former major general and senator Jim Molan locked horns with ASPI’s Marcus Hellyer in the Strategist over armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). Both put some great arguments forward, and the matter …
The strategic importance of northern Australia to our national security has long been recognised by successive governments, but policymakers have struggled to develop a coherent long-term plan for the defence of the north. Until recently, …
In April, in the lead-up to the federal election, Labor leader Bill Shorten pledged that if his party won government, it would ‘undertake the first review of Australia’s force posture since 2012 as one of …
In the past decade, the concept of urban resilience has become integral to the development and design strategies of city planners and decision-makers around the world. As cities have grown larger, there’s been a concerted …
Last month, Stephen Kuper highlighted his concerns about the security of the global supply chain for rare-earth elements (REEs), particularly as it relates to sustaining the US defence force. Right now, it’s a bleak outlook. …
The idea of the north of Australia being central to the new concept of the defence of Australia in the 1970s derived from the key strategic fact that the only country in the region with …
The geographic and economic landscape of northern Australia, as well as its history and ecology, differ in fundamental ways from southern Australia with its large cities and well-connected inhabitants. Sparsely populated, the north typically has …