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Joyce MedranoAustralian Defence Force

Introduction

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.

The ASEAN-Australia Maritime Security Research Program investigates how ASEAN military forces can address maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, with ASEAN at its centre. While navies have traditionally led maritime security efforts, many contemporary challenges require contributions from multiple domains. As militaries increasingly pursue multi-domain approaches, opportunities for air forces to contribute to maritime security are likely to expand.

Over the past years, the theme of resilience has been firmly enshrined as one of the many attributes required of the contemporary war fighter. Nowhere in the country is the preparedness of our Air Force more succinct than in northern Australia.

The onset of the war in Ukraine saw one of the most dramatic shifts in combined arms warfare since the introduction of the machine gun. This shift is attributed to the wide scale introduction of drones to the modern battlefield (Kagan et al, 2024). Principally the conflict is demonstrating drones pioneering new capabilities in reconnaissance, close air support and strategic strike with virtually zero risk to the operator.