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As Air Force starts its second century of operation, so too has the entity charged with thinking about air power been reborn.

Access to foreign bases has long been a critical enabler of the ADF, and ongoing access will be key to Australia’s future security. In the past, these Forward Operating Bases (FOB) were considered relatively secure, however continual improvements to the range and accuracy of missiles acquired by adversarial militaries have made these bases attractive targets, being the seemingly soft underbelly of western militaries.

In order to continue utilisation of FOBs, and to guarantee the safety of deployed forces, the ADF cannot remain idle to the threat of advanced air and missile attacks. As such Australia must look to develop its Air and Missile Defence (AMD) capabilities in order to remain secure in future operations.

The aim of the essay is to discuss a range of AMD design and operating concepts to inform the development of an ADF Integrated AMD (IAMD) capability.

This essay will be structured into four key areas: western nations’ historical and future reliance on FOBs to project power; the emerging threat of powerful state and non-state actors; Australia’s response to emerging air and missile threats; and, IAMD design and operational concepts in an Australian context.

The militarisation of high-energy Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) might be regarded as a game-changer for defending against high-speed missiles, remo

The aim of this paper is to identify aspects of space operations that might be expected to play a part in the operation of the Australian Defence Force in the future. ... The paper proposes the following four operational concepts for achievement of space superiority: control of the regional space environment, regional engagement augmentation, complementing full force integration and space collaboration."

This publication is out of print.