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How to nuke a sovereign capability in one easy edict. Classic price-free policy making at the behest of satisfying those 'over the lake'.

Defence imposes moratorium on industry hirings - Australian Defence Magazine The Department of Defence has imposed at short notice a moratorium on contracting of recently separated Defence personnel by defence industry | Nigel Pittaway

With the elephant of war sitting in the corner of the room, we wonder whether or not history and science will be allowed to inform and advise preparations; or merely be used in the inevitable post-action Boards of Inquiries, Royal Commissions etc, to justify their 'I told you so' conclusions.

Courageous professionalism must overcome political comfort and expedience in the lead up to a big race.

Why bigger fleets (nearly) always win | The Australian Naval Institute Public Why bigger fleets (nearly) always win By ANI - January 28, 2023 0 106 In naval warfare, a smaller fleet of superior quality ships is not a way to victory. The side with the most ships almost always wins, Captain Sam J. Tangredi, U.S. Navy (Retired)* writes in for the US Naval Institute. I’v...

Straight out of Sun Tsu's playbook - know thy environment. China is proving itself non-complacent when it comes to a first-principles approach to anti-submarine warfare.

Begs the question - are laurels being squashed by those in the region previously known for ASW prowess?

Gliders with Ears: A New Tool in China’s Quest for Undersea Security | Center for International Maritime Security Asia-Pacific Gliders with Ears: A New Tool in China’s Quest for Undersea Security March 21, 2022 Guest Author 1 Comment By Ryan Martinson Today, Chinese underwater gliders operate throughout the Indo-Pacific, from the Bay of Bengal to the Bering Sea, from high seas to sovereign waters. These winge...

We only offer a resonating paragraph from the linked article:

"In such long periods of peace, the chaotic, dangerous, and friction-infused nature of war, where chance often holds sway, is forgotten. Belief in the ability to lift the fog of war through technology leads to ever-more numerous, lengthy, prescriptive, and restrictive procedures. Those procedures, in turn, grow in complexity such that only large staffs ashore can develop and test them. The operating forces are left out of the process; their role limited to compliance and ex*****on."

A Warfighting Imperative: Back to Basics for the Navy Placing warfighting effectiveness above all else is the foundation for victory in war.

Yes.

Fog of War: The Navy Should Reconsider Smokescreen Tactics New technology may make the smokescreen relevant, and the Navy should examine reincorporating it into the fleet.

We can't help think this is a future inconvenient truth. Anecdote and intellectual conjecture isn't data, after all.

The UK's Type 31 et al frigates point towards a 'quantity is quality' thinking, reminiscent of protracted - or decisive - naval campaigns of the past.

Future Frigates. DDG(X). Successors to the Type 45. Too many valuable eggs in one basket hell-bent on self-defence? Perhaps.

Increased lethality concepts will come at a cost to fleet sizes necessary to seize and secure maritime lines of communication. The pot of gold will only be so big. Seeing far, shooting far - it's not everything.

Traditional thinking dictates armies are required to seize and secure ground in order to win wars.

Are we moving towards a post-army view of war, especially in light of increasing space militarisation? Are navies the 'new armies' in a space world, where success in the latter means enabling the former?

It's all well-and-good having infantry equipped with 'stuff' to 'do better/more'. But you still need boots on the ground to do the job.

Same goes for navies. You might make sharper ships, but you still need sufficient ships to do more than just find-point-and-shoot.

That sinking feeling: the future of surface combatants | The Strategist At an ASPI conference a few years ago, I remarked that I thought that major surface combatants had been obsolete for many decades, and that the only reason we hadn’t noticed was that there hadn’t ...

If capability is characterised by looks, then the Zumwalt-class warship is teeming with it...

America Is Sure That Stealth Warships Are the Future—and Its Bet Big on It It is true that stealth has its advantages. However, the jury is still out on whether it makes sense to make ships that are fully built around stealth.

Correct.

To properly enable seamines, it's worthwhile considering this question: does Australia possess the necessary national geospatial and environmental library to maximise their use, and minimise their impact on neutral, friendly and own forces and trade?

In a nutshell, no.

Sea mines: the asymmetrical weapon Australia must have | The Strategist Now that the cacophony surrounding Australia’s submarine decision and the AUKUS announcement has quietened somewhat, it’s timely to mention a much smaller but nonetheless important milestone in building the Royal Australian Navy’s lethality—the pending acquisition ...

It appears the marine/maritime domain lags aviation in achieving what is needed in deploying new technology and techniques.

The United States' Large Unmanned Surface Combat Vessel (LUSCV) concept has exposed gaps and inconsistencies in governance and legislation concerning the operation of sea-based unmanned naval systems.

Short Question: Is it legal?
Short Answer: Yes, but it depends.

US autonomous Corvette and international law | The Australian Naval Institute LeadershipPublic US autonomous Corvette and international law By ANI - August 14, 2021 0 300 By Commander Jennifer Parker* As tensions across the South China Sea and the Pacific rise; terms such as ‘greyzone’ and ‘Freedom of Navigation’ have become common parlance, giving rise to the questio...

It's like they're inside our head, or listening to young Officers in wardrooms everywhere..

Guided-Missile Patrol Boats for Distributed Maritime Operation Investing in PGGs would create a fleet that is more agile, lethal, and sustainable in the littorals.

BLUF: The American Joint Chiefs have dropped the mic on its professional military education system. *Applied* warfighting education is directed. Ruthless curriculum reviews are demanded. Anything unaligned is to be treated as ‘suspect’. The Joint Command Intent could not be clearer.

Finally Getting Serious About Professional Military Education - War on the Rocks Two years ago, much of the professional military education community was startled by the National Defense Strategy’s declaration that its wares had

BLUF: Command Intent is the human touch to an otherwise sterile Orders Group.

We suspect the linked article will provide conclusionary comments to our recent (unintended) theme of Mission Command-related posts.

The article focuses on Command Intent, demonstrating it is more than just a doctrinal noun.

Conveying personal expectation and nuance cannot be captured by the Staffing process alone. Time is needed to educate and skill Officers, allow them to think; and, finally, communicate in unfettered terms.

KISS, anyone?

Put the Commander back in Commander’s Intent By Capt. Bill Shafley Commander’s intent is the cornerstone of mission command.1 Yet, it remains a nebulous form of communication. In naval operations,