Land Conference<\/a> will help frame the discussion and the road ahead. With a broad range of speakers, including the Prime Minister and military experts from around the world, we have the ingredients for a well-informed debate.<\/p>\nA key topic will involve discussion of defence industry policy and the options that can provide the best possible framework for the States and local industry to support the Army.<\/p>\n
The Minister for Industry and Science will join the conference to discuss the broader industry policy issues, which will be followed by perspectives from defence, industry and state government leaders.<\/p>\n
Hopefully the Defence Industry Plan to be announced later this year will not be simply a carefully disguised prop for local manufacturing. That would spell another policy failure. The key to an industry strategy that will support Army as well as contribute meaningfully to the broader economy is a blueprint to encourage innovation in niche technologies and systems integration skills. Army\u2019s relative size doesn\u2019t justify the expansion of Australia\u2019s manufacturing capacity. There is, however, a critical need to develop the indigenous knowledge and skills to sustain, evolve and improve Army capabilities across a broad range of areas, including weapons systems, armoured vehicles, helicopters and ICT based systems.<\/p>\n
The Australian economy isn\u2019t large enough to sustain competition at any cost. We need government, \u00a0\u00a0industry and the tertiary education sector to come together and create sustainable centres of excellence. We need policy consistency and careful investment for these goals to be realised. If we lose the capacity to innovate we risk becoming simply an ill-informed follower with a defence industry unable to respond to army\u2019s future requirements.<\/p>\n
The 2015 ASPI Land Conference will provide a forum to challenge the status quo and broaden our collective understanding of Army\u2019s role as it moves into its second century of serving the nation.<\/p>\n
For those who won\u2019t be able to be in Canberra for the Conference, it\u2019ll streamed live by both Sky News and the ABC. And, of course, the ASPI social media team will provide updates as the Conference progresses via #FutureForce2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ASPI\u2019s 2015 Land Conference this week foreshadows a number of Government policy announcements that will directly or indirectly impact the Australian Army and its future operational tempo and force structure. The Conference will be an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":21184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[488,416,1062,1241],"class_list":["post-21183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-army","tag-australian-government","tag-land-400","tag-land-conference-2015"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
ASPI's 2015 Land Conference: \u2018Army\u2019s Future Force Structure Options\u2019 | The Strategist<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n