Living and Thriving Under Ambiguity
Luke Houghton and Jennifer Loy
Griffith University
Air power is distinguished from sea and land power by its flexibility, speed, ubiquity, range and shock effect. These characteristics give air power a unique ability to concentrate force
and manoeuvre rapidly over long distances
Matthew ThorntonAustralian Defence ForceWhen a drone from an adversary attacks an office in Amberley, how many of our industry partners will show u
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.
There is a growing threat to societies, and their critical infrastructure as more actors take to the skies.
Air and Space Power Conference 2024 Panel Moderator Resilience to Enable Air and Space Operations Group Captain Jo Brick Director Strategic Issues Management Group Captain Brick studied law at the University of Technology, Sydney, and is admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. She joined the Air Force through ...
Is The RAAF Seeking Combat Effectiveness
Daniel Cook
Australian Defence Force
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.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is changing.
