Australia's geographical attributes, particularly its extensive 35,000 kilometre coastline and strategic location within the Indo-Pacific region have influenced recommendations in the Defence Strategic Review (DSR). The key recommendation for the land force domain was that “Australia’s Army must be transformed and optimised for littoral manoeuvre operations by sea, land and air from Australia.” The Army has already responded to this force design priority, including the establishment of the Littoral Manoeuvre Program and shifting the 1st Brigade’s focus to the littoral environment. The Army has also pursued professional development, theming the 2023 Chief of Army’s History Conference and the latest edition of the Australian Army Journal on littoral operations. Both highlighted that littoral operations are not new to the Army and provide a starting point for adaptation through historical examples from the Oboe Landings of World War II through to Operation ASTUTE in Timor, 2006.

To best optimise its force for littoral operations, the Australian Army needs to leverage its current training system to best prepare for operations regardless of season, weather or terrain. Littoral environment as defined by the Australian Maritime Doctrine as “the areas to seaward of the coast which are susceptible to influence or support from the land and the areas inland from the coast which are susceptible to influence or support from the sea.” Any adaptations to training must be light and agile and generate efficiencies to reduce training timelines. There are training adaptations that can be made across all-corps officer and soldier training continuums as well as at the unit and strategic level to posture for littoral operations.

Officer Training

Army officer training can leverage both academic studies through the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and military planning and operations through the Royal Military College to optimise junior officers’ appreciation of the littoral environment. ADFA already targets its academic degrees to suit service needs, for example, while I was attending ADFA over 2017 to 2019, it was mandatory for all trainees to undertake courses on International Humanitarian Law, Military Ethics and Cyber Security. ADFA’s partnership with the University of New South Wales – Canberra has established a well-respected military history department, with leading historians in the field including the late Professor Jeffery Grey and those who continue his legacy. Three lecturers, Dr Rhys Crawley, Dr Richard Dunley and Dr Tom Richardson contributed to the latest release of the Australian Army Journal (Volume 60) making valuable contributions to the academic discussion on Australia’s littoral operations.

These academics are well positioned to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the ‘History of Littoral Operations,’ to complement current courses, for example Dr Dunley’s ‘History of Sea Power in the 20th Century.’ The development of this course can then be adapted to short courses available to the whole Academy through the Joint Military Education and Training (JMET) continuum that all trainees undertake and even be uploaded to ADELE for unit professional military education packages.

Extending on a historical background of littoral operations, training at the Royal Military College (RMC) can also incorporate littoral training into its continuum. Acknowledging that all training institutions are aiming to reduce the time spent in training, it is not palatable to include an entire littoral operations package into RMC. Similar arguments along this line will take the view that trainees do not undertake jungle warfare or snow operations at RMC, yet the Australian Army has operated in both environments in the past 12 months including Operation Kudu and our continuing commitment to Rifle Company Butterworth.

An introduction to littoral operations in the all-corps officer training continuum should start with a theoretical introduction to the capabilities during the operational planning package at RMC. The Tactical Exercises without Troops (TEWT) series should be adapted to include at least one planning serial in the littoral environment. This adaptation provides General Service Officers with a foundational understanding of littoral planning considerations, setting the conditions for further development in the unit environment, which can also be developed along the all-corps continuum. Being located in Canberra, RMC also has a multitude of options to conduct field training in a littoral environment. To meet the intent of reduced timelines, it is not necessary to conduct an entire littoral package; however, current training can be adapted, such as conducting Stability Operations at Jervis Bay.

Soldier Training

Training at the 1st Recruit Training Battalion (1 RTB) can also be adapted to include an exposure to the littoral operating environment. 1 RTB provides foundational soldier skills that Army has deemed essential to soldiers of all corps. If Army is to be optimised for littoral operations, we must deliver foundational littoral operational skills at the basic training level in the all-corps soldier continuum. This training must be relevant to future situations and be able to fit within the current nine-week curriculum, achieving the need to reduce training timelines. It would be appropriate to leverage the Australian Army’s pre-existing course “Safety of Life at Sea,” which provides a basic overview of using the in-service life jacket, maritime safety equipment including EPIRBs, as well as small boat capsize and survival swimming drills. This can be conducted within the pool facilities already available at 1 RTB or could be a more intense and adventure training-based scenario at Lake Albert, a 20-minute drive from Kapooka. Similarly to the adaption of officer training, the intent is to provide soldiers the basic skills needed to support future exercises and operations where they can be expected to employ small boats and embark vessels.

Army’s Training Command should also seek opportunities to revise Learning and Management Packages (LMPs) to build on all-corps training relevant to specialist fields. An example of this is the adaption of Employment Category Number 274 – Driver Specialist’s difficult terrain module to include beach driving or landing craft embarkation and disembarkation drills. Corps Schools must be encouraged to seek opportunities now to accelerate Army’s adaption rather than waiting for LMP revisions; however, such revisions need to be undertaken to support the continual evolution of littoral training.

Unit Training

Over 2022 and 2023 I was involved in the evolution of the 1st Brigade’s training to refine basic and collective warfighting skills in the littoral environment. The 1st Brigade’s model employed mission command to seek training opportunities at all levels of command. Changes included trial unit re-structures, contracting civilian barges for the Predator Exercise series, and upskilling our soldiers – for example four ECN 274 soldiers were dual skilled as ECN 171 Cargo Specialists, enabling 1 CSSB to organically load vehicles onto landing craft. This model needs to be adopted Army wide; the opportunities exist and with all combat brigades being within an hour drive of beach areas there are ample training opportunities to expose and develop an understanding of the additional pressures of operating in the littoral environment. The combination of corps schools and units adapting to training in the littoral environment will continue to build the available Non-Defence Training Areas for Army to employ. Having used Rainbow Beach for a LARC-V surf negotiation exercise in 2021, I understand the staff work required to establish such NDTAs. However, it is necessary to best prepare our force.

Opportunities for Army to further develop its relationship with Maritime Border Command (MBC) also facilitate training in the littoral environment, simultaneously increasing domestic security. Army’s current commitment to Operation Resolute typically consists of ground and waterborne patrols from Exmouth to the Torres Strait. The onus for this mission sits with the Regional Force Surveillance Group (RFSG); an opportunity that regular units are missing out on to train in the littorals. While it is necessary for RFSG to remain committed to Operation Resolute, there is merit in adding permanent company rotations. The 1st Brigade have recently undertaken this model, with soldiers across the entire brigade gaining experience in the remote and harsh littoral environment. Expanding this capability provides realistic training and meets the DSR’s strategic goal of bolstering domestic security.

There are significant opportunities across the Army to be optimised for littoral operations. The Army’s training systems and all-corps training continuum underpins force projection in the land domain and presents significant opportunities for adaptation to meet the strategic recommendations of the DSR. Changes to officer, soldier, and unit training needs to also be light and agile, balancing the need to incorporate littoral skills with the reduction in training pipelines.