Turning the Tap Off - Stopping the Flow of Pointless Jobs in the RAAFDaniel CookAustralian 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.
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.
For several decades, the relationship between Australia and India seemed limited to Commonwealth, cricket and curry.
The environment in which we live today is one of continual technological change and development.
Limited by resources and size the F-35 was the best, and largely only, option available to the ADF that guaranteed long term defense interests.
Space is often referred to as the 'fourth dimension' of warfare, characterised by its own doctrines, strategies and operations.
Introduction – Stefan Gabric (RNZAF)
This time last year, in my first gig as a reservist, I had the pleasure of presenting to the 20th Australian International Aerospace Congress (AIAC20) on the topic of the MQ-4C Triton airworthiness program. Specifically, I spoke about how it had been structured in lieu of any formal recognition of the United States (US) Navy as a competent design organisation for Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) or any formal airworthiness certification of the design basis for the Triton system itself.
