{"id":23777,"date":"2015-12-08T15:20:49","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T04:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=23777"},"modified":"2015-12-08T15:16:08","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T04:16:08","slug":"the-adf-and-strategic-non-nuclear-deterrence-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-adf-and-strategic-non-nuclear-deterrence-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The ADF and strategic non-nuclear deterrence (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>My last article<\/a> concluded that one of the risks Australia might face in a more unpredictable future was \u2018strike warfare\u2019 by China to coerce Australia as part of intensified strategic competition with the US in what Rod Lyon has described as a \u2018dark future\u2019<\/a> scenario. Defending against the threat of non-nuclear ballistic and cruise missile attacks through development of Ballistic Missile Defences (BMD) and enhanced multilayered air defences would become a challenging but vital task for the ADF to avoid coercive pressure being placed on Australia. However BMD isn\u2019t a solution by itself and it\u2019s important to counter other potential forms of coercion that a rising China could exploit.<\/p>\n A key aspect of Chinese military thinking is the concept of Integrated Network-Electronic Warfare (INEW) that\u2019s based around the integrated employment of computer network operations, and Electronic Warfare. Having the means to counter or deny China\u2019s ability to fight and win information warfare by defeating its ability to wage INEW effectively should be a key focus for ADF capability development in the future. Once again, as with BMD, this can be done in concert with key allies like the US, and a focus on acquiring new capabilities for preserving our knowledge edge against an opponent. Types of new capabilities to be considered could include developing and maintaining effective and independent ADF Space capabilities to complement US satellites, strengthening our computer network security, and enhancing ADF Electronic Warfare. Australia could consider how these new types of capability might impose tactical and strategic costs across the electromagnetic spectrum and within cyberspace to further deter or dissuade an opponent from continuing coercion.<\/p>\n Space capabilities and the space domain is clearly a vital centre of gravity for modern information-based warfare. The ADF depends on space to undertake almost every aspect of its missions, and diversification of our space capabilities, including establishing an independent ADF space support (here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>) capability based around low-cost COTs-based \u2018small satellites\u2019 could boost our national resilience in the face of growing counter-space threats, including from countries like China. By boosting space resilience, Australia wouldn\u2019t be completely dependent on US provision of limited numbers of space capabilities, and would increase its direct ability to support both US and other key defence partners\u2019 interests, as well as our ability to act independently of the US when necessary. The key point isn\u2019t to think of a vast, costly government-run end-to-end space program, but instead to embrace the commercial space revolution that\u2019s now on the horizon and will gather momentum in the next decade. The goal of Australia taking this path is to make ADF space capabilities resilient in the face of future counter-space threats.<\/p>\n