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There is a growing threat to societies, and their critical infrastructure as more actors take to the skies.

Technology usually follows a certain progression – first the device gets more features before it reduces in size. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) fill this description perfectly, and we have yet to come up with an adequate defence for them.

Dr. Martin Luther King said that a leader does not search for consensus, they mould it (2010).

Sustaining Communications Across a Degraded NetworkSteven CrawfordAustralian Defence ForceThe increase in interconnected systems within the Royal A

Decreasing Reliance on Fossil Fuels to Increase Defence Capability

Benjamin Cole
Australian Defence Force

The 'poor man's air force' is a term for employing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hobbyist drones or uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) to strategic level military effect, and that effect cannot be understated (Waters, 2018; Nadeau, 2022; Shift, 2023). The ability for terror organisations to coordinate multiple layers of effects, including using COTS drones, to destroy Command and Control (C2) nodes in Israel causes alarm. Couple this with the use of COTS drones for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, strike and battle-damage assessment missions, and the threat posed by what are essentially toys is alarmingly real.

For several decades, the relationship between Australia and India seemed limited to Commonwealth, cricket and curry.

Australia is a maritime, geographically vast, technologically capable, and globally connected nation. These attributes do not guarantee effective national security, but they do provide choice, and Australia is now under increasing pressure to make the right one.