This study aims to provide an understanding of the Australian Defence Force's special operations capability and what it offers to government in both peace and wartime. Summary Over the past decade, the demands of the ADF’s global and regional operations saw an unprecedented growth in Australia’s special operations capability. Indeed, Special Operations Forces became the...

Summary: The government is about to make a decision on whether to spend between $8 and 10 billion of taxpayer’s money on the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It’s also an important call because it will cement the F-35 as the main instrument of Australian air-power for decades into the future. The F-35 has a...

Thirteen years on from the release of the 2000 Defence white paper (D2000), we're still waiting for some of the major ADF capabilities it announced to be realised. This paper reviews the 31 major capability announcements made back then.

A number of recent policy documents signal the Australian Government’s intent to deepen defence engagement in the Asia–Pacific, and future defence policy statements are likely to reinforce that objective. The Australia in the Asian century White Paper clearly established Asia as our primary economic and strategic focus. Australia’s first National Security Strategy gave as the...

At the 15 September 2011 AUSMIN talks in San Francisco, Australian and US officials took advantage of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS Treaty to announce the alliance would now extend into cyberspace. It was the first time, outside of NATO, that two allies had formalised their joint cooperation in cyberspace. The...