Articles

Gurpreet S. Khurana looks at how the concept of ‘Indo-Pacific’ has gained increasing prevalence in the geopolitical and strategic discourse and what the future holds for the region.

A press briefing on the Australian future submarine (FSM) program by Jean-Michel Billig, the Australian program director for Naval Group (formerly DCNS), at the...

From 6–7 November 2017, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) frigates, HMA Ships Parramatta and Melbourne, joined Republic of Korea (ROK) destroyer, ROKS Sejeong The Great, and US destroyer, USS Chafee to participate in a multilateral maritime interdiction exercise off the coast of Jeju, ROK. The exercise included observers from Japan, Singapore, Canada, Germany and Denmark.

By Michael D. Armour, Ph.D. Introduction Recently there has been discussions at the highest level of the U.S. military concerning the deployment of U.S. Coast Guard assets to the South China sea and integrating them into the freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) conducted by the U.S. Navy relating to the manmade atolls constructed by the Chinese and subsequently claimed as Chinese sovereign territory. It may be that these U.S. Coast Guard units, if deployed to the area, may turn out to be a combat multiplier or a diplomatic plus. However, given the meager USCG budget and the limited assets of the service, their deployment may prove to be insignificant or even fraught with danger.

By Tuneer Mukherjee* The recent decommissioning of the aircraft carrier INS Viraat leaves an enormous gap in the Indian Navy’s power projection capabilities. India’s sole remaining aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will now serve at the vanguard, as evidenced this year by the ongoing Exercise Malabar and the earlier held TROPEX (Theater Readiness Operational Exercise).

By Bob Moyse* A UK blog, the Thin Pinstriped Line, republished by ANI last month, has produced a piece about the Royal Marines titled ‘The Royal Marine Corps huh, What is it good for?’ Given Australia’s considerable investment in amphibious capability, a discussion about the future of the Royal Marines is relevant to us.

Foreign policy and defence bipartisanship is a difficult but common theme in Westminster systems. Two articles highlight some of the difficulties: Fairfax columnist Nicholas...

The Life on the Line series has released this week a two-part interview with Rear Admiral Andrew Robertson AO DSC. You can listen here...

Episode 4 of the Australian Naval History Video and Podcast Series was released this week. It discussed the very successful Submarine Weapons Upgrade Program...

Navy’s Maritime Trade Operations capability has been provided a remarkable ‘fact-finding’ opportunity to augment planning processes that will protect Australian seaborne trade and the nation’s economic prosperity. Commander Fiona Ewington RANR, was recently selected as one of 109 Australians heralded as the 2017 Churchill Fellows, and will travel overseas to examine how Australia’s allied partners go about their business protecting trade interests and upholding the safety of seaborne trade.