The new Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Noonan, has published his statement of intent. New Chiefs of Navy put out their Statements of Intent at the start of their period of tenure.
Vice Admiral Noonan has done that with this document. It builds on the work of Vice Admiral Barrett and continues with the Navy vision contained in Plan Pelorus and Plan Mercator. The content with images is below:
The Security and Prosperity of Australia is tied directly to the Maritime Domain. Australia’s $1.6 trillion economy remains dependent upon the security of
our international trade routes, shipping and vast marine resources.
For Australia to efficiently, safely and securely access and defend the maritime domain now and into the future, the Navy must be an agile, resilient and lethal fighting force, able to contribute to complex, joint missions in a dynamic region.
To achieve this vital task, the Navy’s Officers and Sailors must be professional, well trained, and empowered to lawfully use the full range of available
capabilities when called upon by our Government.
Many of these naval capabilities are highly complex, technical systems which must be cost effectively managed, extremely well maintained, regularly upgraded,
and battle ready; cognisant of the ever changing strategic threats and technical challenges.
This enables the Navy to Fight and Win at Sea, directly contributing to the current and future security and prosperity of Australia.
Our Purpose – Australia’s Navy
It is my absolute honour to Command the Royal Australian Navy. Leading an institution that is so vital to the security and prosperity of Australia is a true privilege and it brings with it a responsibility that I take very seriously.
The Navy currently enjoys a strong relationship with Government and the Australian people as a result of the quality of our men and women and their contributions over an extended period. Nonetheless, we still have much to do if we are to realise our full potential; we must all focus on being better – every day.
Our ability to reach our destination depends upon it.
For Australia to efficiently, safely and securely access and defend the maritime domain now and into the future, the Navy must deliver five key outcomes:
• Outcome 1: Provide Maritime Forces for Current Operations, Exercises,
Engagements and Future Contingencies.
• Outcome 2: Plan and Deliver Future Maritime Systems.
• Outcome 3: Assure the Safety, Seaworthiness and Airworthiness of our Systems.
• Outcome 4: Effectively Lead and Manage our People and Culture.
• Outcome 5: Provide the required Enablers and Oversight to achieve Navy Outcomes.
Here, I outline my initial approach to thinking about ourselves and how we will reach our Headmark, and our potential, together. I encourage you all to engage with, and help develop these ideas, framed around three command themes:
A Thinking Navy, A Fighting Navy – An Australian Navy.
A Thinking Navy
Success will increasingly depend on the quality of our thinking and our agility in decision making. Our capabilities are complex and networked, which require deep understanding for optimal outcomes. We work in a dynamic region with evolving threats. Through diversity of thought, we will master our capability, find better solutions and challenge the status quo as we drive for an advantage.
If we are to keep up with the increasing demands placed upon us, we must encourage and ingrain improved decision making and accountability at all levels of our Navy. This requires us to implicitly understand our core business and to execute effective influence, coordination and decision making.
We will encourage transparent setting of goals and reporting of progress, the free flow of information throughout the organisation, challenging assumptions, promoting advice without fear, and innovation through positive disruption.
We will pass a ‘value add’ lens over everything that we do, to ensure we are thinking about, and contributing to agile decision making and the management of risks to our directed outcomes.
Navy must be a learning organisation that encourages continuous improvement and innovation at all levels, as normal behaviour. We will take calculated risks and learn from failure. We will find more cost effective and efficient ways of sustaining the force in being, through life, while delivering the future force on time, and on budget. We need to clearly understand our purpose in a complex domain so that we can optimally prioritise and allocate the finite resources (time, people and money) in support of our directed outcomes.
We need to understand the quality of our internal and external relationships and we need to plan and carefully manage the standard of our communication, engagement and advice to effectively influence our stakeholders. To achieve this, we need to focus on being better every day , in everything we do. We
must be worthy of the trust and responsibility that Government and the Australian people have bestowed upon us.
A Fighting Navy
We live in complex and uncertain times, both globally and regionally, which generates increased ambiguity and unpredictability. Furthermore, we are in a period of unprecedented Regional Competition, with real potential for conflict in the next four
years.
We are the first line of defence and we must be ready to provide combat ready forces to the Chief of Joint Operations. We are a fighting system, not just a collection of platforms and we must be ready to fight alongside our brothers and sisters in the Army and Air force as a professional Navy Team that understands, and is committed to, our nation, our mission, and each other. We must be able to fight in all domains, including cyber
and EW, not just in physical domains.
I cannot overstate the importance of understanding and managing risks to our readiness to undertake sustained, near region operations, if and when called upon
by Government to do so. This includes understanding and addressing risks and issues related to our people, our tactics, our battle worthy platforms, our systems, our weapons, our sensors and each of the Fundamental Inputs to Capability that contribute to our lethality.
The majority of major capability decisions are now made; we will need to shift our focus to the delivery of fighting capability and sustainment of our current and future force.
We have a very clear understanding of what platforms our Navy will operate over the next 20 years. However, the context and needs of the future will continue to evolve and change; with it, we will be required to continually assess our capability against that of our potential future adversaries, addressing any identified deficiencies.
In parallel, we must also continue to deliver on our contract with Government; we must be ready now, while concurrently becoming ready for the future. This includes managing both our current capability and our capacity with a focus on preparedness for existing and future contingences.
An Australian Navy
While we should all have a sense of excitement and enthusiasm for what is ahead of us, we must also reflect on the importance of what we do, every day, for our Country.
Our people reflect the best of Australian society; we support and are supported by our Families and our Community; we are ready to defend Australia because we are proactive, professional, well trained and empowered to make decisions and act. We serve our Country with pride.
The quality of our Officers and Sailors is our most important contributor to Australia’s maritime power and to our future success. Our ongoing quality will increasingly depend on our culture and above all, the generation and maintenance of a fighting spirit.
We don’t lose. We won’t lose.
My primary focus will be on continuing the work on advancing our culture and resilience, and embedding those habits that will ensure our success, while also looking at innovative ways of attracting new skills and retaining our people.
We will uphold our Navy Values and live our Signature Behaviours. We will promote, and operate within a culture that encourages those who are currently serving, to continue to serve – those who have left, to want to return – and those Australians who are looking to be part of something bigger, to see in our Navy the attributes of a unique organisation worthy of their commitment and service.
In doing so, we will increase our recruiting base to be more representative and inclusive of Australian society. This will generate diversity of thought at all levels of our Navy which will lead to more innovative, and ultimately better outcomes.
We will listen to our people, trust in them, believe in them, respect them, and give them a fair go. We will inspire our people to be more than they thought they could be; to reach their potential; and to reach our potential as a Team.
Our Future
Navy will continue to transform to meet our current and future challenges. We have a number of threats to reaching our objectives and these will be addressed through updates to our Strategic Plans, PELORUS and MERCATOR.
