This report identifies a critical strategic vulnerability: Western military institutions, including in Australia, are failing to learn from modern wars. Despite four years of unprecedented visibility into Ukrainian battlefield innovations, and the recent war in Iran, Western forces have not institutionalised key lessons into doctrine, force structure, or procurement priorities.

This has implications for a range of strategic competitions as other countries have built a knowledge market in which battlefield insights transfer rapidly. Western democracies face a structural disadvantage in this competitive learning environment. For Australia, the consequences are serious: minimal drone capabilities, almost no counter-drone defences for deployed forces or critical infrastructure, the opportunity costs of expensive systems, and slow mechanisms for translating foreign war lessons into force development.

The paper’s five recommendations address culture change, promotion reform, AI-enabled learning, rapid drone capability development, and acquisition reform. Ignoring visible evidence from modern wars when adversaries are absorbing those same lessons at speed constitutes a strategic choice with potentially catastrophic consequences for military organisations and nations.

The paper is provided with an audio option.