‘When we’re thinking about Large Scale Combat Operations in our future, we need to think beyond the land domain. And the reason for that is because that’s the way the threats are going to manifest.’

BRIG James Davis, Director General, Future Land Warfare

The Defence Strategic Review directed that Army should prepare for future warfare by improving its readiness as a littoral force and increasing its capacity for long range fires. At the same time, technological advances such as automation and AI are changing the character of warfare. The topic of Future Warfare has attracted more attention than any other topic on The Cove this year. 

For an overview, see the video below:

The Cove provided a digest of the 2024 National Defence Strategy, unpacking the concepts of national defence and a strategy of denial in the Indo-Pacific. Responding to this strategy of denial, Nicholas Barber advocated for a better understanding of how new technology relates to the concept of depth, in his article Daring, Persistent, and Adaptive: Achieving Depth with Robotic and Autonomous Systems.

Together with The Cove, the Australian Army Research Centre ran a Short Thoughts essay competition mid-year, asking entrants to consider future warfare by responding to the question, ‘What is one way that you would see Army adapt in order to contribute to littoral warfare?’ Luke Dekkers took first place with his article on Medics in the Mangroves. Coming in second was Jordan Chee with his article about the need to prepare junior officers for the littoral environment: Army Adapting its Views on Combined Arms to Optimise for Littoral Operations. Third place went to Shaun Cameron with an article about cooperation with Australia’s northern partners: Strategic Cooperation as Army Littoral Strategy. Harrison Blain received the SO1’s choice with an article about how to advance the Australian infantry platoon: Bridging the Gap. Receiving the People’s Choice, Buddy Worrigal argued for increasing investment in the Regional Force Surveillance Group to improve Army's littoral capabilities and help the pivot to our near north: Investing in the North: Empowering the RFSG.

We also published a number of runner-up entries for the Short Thoughts competition. Brendan Kelleher contributed an article arguing for minimum-mass tactics in Minimum Bark, Maximum Bite. Travis Peet provided an article on Optimising Australian Army Watercraft for Littoral Warfare. Brendan Smith wrote about Light Motorised Infantry for Near Region Operations. James Robinson discussed Deploying Land Forces Ashore: Littoral Warfare. Alexander Slader discussed the danger of Drowning. Lexin Luciak provided an article about Warfighting in a Littoral Environment. Jessie Reis wrote about Training System Adaptation for Littoral Warfare. Jarrod Brook wrote about the contribution of the land force across domains in A Battle for Hearts and Minds. Benjamin Katz discussed Achieving a Functional Form of Balance within a Focused Force. 

A number of our Cove Community podcasts and Cove Talks dealt with topics related to future warfare. The Adapting Army podcast series continued to discuss how Army is adapting and innovating to integrate the latest technological advancements. Professor Peter Dean gave a Cove Talk on The Defence Strategic Review, National Defence Strategy: Outcomes for Army Now and in the Future. Professor Anne-Marie Brady also responded to the National Defence Strategy in her Cove Talk on Information as Magic Weapons: Threats and Opportunities. Likewise, Dr Carl Rhodes reflected on the National Defence Strategy in his talk on Small Aircraft, Sizable Threats: sUAS – The Threats They Pose and How to Counter Them.

In September, the Chief of Army gave guidance for the future in the Chief of Army Symposium. The Cove published the videos from the symposium here. Soon after, we published Erik Davis’s article Responding to the Chief’s Challenge: Reflecting on the Nature and Character of War. In October, we opened the Cove Competition for 2024, asking entrants to reflect on this very topic: Cove Competition 2024 – The Changing Character of War.