{"id":28587,"date":"2016-09-13T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T01:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=28587"},"modified":"2016-09-12T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T23:36:58","slug":"modernising-adfs-combat-soldier-remarkable-achievement-yet-continual-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/modernising-adfs-combat-soldier-remarkable-achievement-yet-continual-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Modernising the ADF\u2019s combat soldier: a remarkable achievement, yet a continual challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of fanfare, a 22-year program to modernise the ADF\u2019s combat soldier has transformed this most vital of land force capabilities into one that is truly world-leading.<\/p>\n

Government has both directed and bankrolled this transformation over 20 years. Labor\u2019s 1994 Defence White Paper committed to ensuring combat soldiers \u2018continue to be equipped to meet emerging challenges.\u2019 Similar White Paper direction was expressed in 2000, 2009 and 2013. In the 2016 version, government emphasised that combat soldiers are \u2018at the heart of land force capability\u2019 and committed funds for \u2018continuously improving\u2019 this critical platform.<\/p>\n

If we were to rewind to the mid-1990s, the ADF\u2019s combat soldier was characterised by limited lethality, almost non-existent protection, rudimentary mobility, and very limited situational awareness and endurance. Yet, inspired by the government\u2019s clear policy and funding commitment, visionaries of the time devised a plan for the continuous modernisation of these attributes.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to today and the ADF\u2019s combat soldier is state-of-the-art. Soldiers are now better armed than potential adversaries. They employ enhanced surveillance and communications systems to enable them to identify, decide and act faster in battle. They are endowed with scalable equipment carriage systems, combat uniforms and body armour; all of which can be configured for an array of operational contingencies and environments. Notably, combat soldier modernisation efforts haven\u2019t solely focused on major platform acquisitions. Indeed, Army has placed increasing emphasis on improving the quality of training and education needed to transform state-of-the-art materiel into leading capability.<\/p>\n

Of course, this isn\u2019t to say that the ADF\u2019s current combat soldier capability is perfect. Nor does the fulfilment of the 1990s vision mean the ADF can \u2018rest on its laurels\u2019. Failure to realise government\u2019s clear commitment to the continuous modernisation of this capability would deny our soldiers, sailors and airmen a decisive combat edge over future adversaries. Consequently, the ADF is currently finessing the vision for its next generation combat soldier.<\/p>\n

The critical question is: what must the ADF\u2019s combat soldier be able to do in 2025, 2030 and beyond? On such questions, Colin Gray warns us<\/a> that \u2018counsels of perfection are impossible to realise\u2019 and not to \u2018polish the forecaster\u2019s crystal ball ever harder\u2019. Instead, he encourages an approach that pursues the most likely trends.<\/p>\n

So, what do those trends look like?<\/p>\n

Future weapon systems will be ever more lethal, fuelled by munitions development and the evolution of target acquisition sights and lasers that allow combat soldiers to mark a target via their weapon sight, pull the trigger and achieve a first round hit. Remote lethality systems, such as drones, will become more prevalent, if not ubiquitous. Protection systems will continue their millennia-old quest to defeat increasingly potent projectiles, while side-stepping the trap of overburdening the soldier with oppressive loads. Improved power sources, unmanned equipment \u2018mules\u2019, exoskeletons, mission specific nutrition and physiological tracking mechanisms will enable combat soldiers to remain effective for longer.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s in the realms of situational awareness, enhancing human performance, training and education where combat soldier modernisation trends will likely prove most profound.<\/p>\n

The ability of the ADF\u2019s combat soldier to identify, decide and act more quickly than their adversaries will be enhanced through a variety of emerging platforms. These include advanced heads-up-displays, which convey relevant battlefield information and the ability to perceive multiple visual\/non-visual spectra, as well as increasing unmanned ground and aerial surveillance devices.<\/p>\n

The proliferation of immersive simulation technologies, not dissimilar to Star Trek\u2019s \u2018holodeck\u2019 fantasy<\/a>, advanced training aids, performance feedback technologies and leading training and human performance tools, will enable well-trained combat soldiers to maximise the technical edge afforded to them by their state-of-the-art gear.<\/p>\n

These technology-fuelled developments aren\u2019t figments of the imagination of video game junkies; they\u2019re rapidly coming down the pipeline. However, it remains to be seen if the ADF can take advantage of them. Multiple challenges await today\u2019s combat soldier modernisation visionaries. Accurately defining capability needs and requirements, being agile and adaptive within a complex capability development process and deciding when to \u2018catch the technology wave\u2019 (or indeed which wave to even catch) figure prominently. Then there\u2019s the issues of managing affordability in a marketplace that demands increasing premiums for early adopters of cutting-edge technologies and finding \u2018win-win\u2019 industry partners. Finally, there is the challenge of avoiding the alluring, yet mistaken, notion that technology can reduce warfare to simply manning equipment.<\/p>\n

The good news is that these challenges aren\u2019t new. They certainly confronted the visionaries of the mid-1990s who initiated the continuous modernisation of the ADF\u2019s combat soldier capability. If today\u2019s forecasters can take courage from anything, it\u2019s that these challenges were overcome once, can be again, and that the Government has increased policy and funding commitment to allow them to do so. Their start point in 2016 is far better than where their forebears began 22 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the lack of fanfare, a 22-year program to modernise the ADF\u2019s combat soldier has transformed this most vital of land force capabilities into one that is truly world-leading. Government has both directed and bankrolled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":28624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,108,1420],"class_list":["post-28587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-combat","tag-modernisation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nModernising the ADF\u2019s combat soldier: a remarkable achievement, yet a continual challenge | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/modernising-adfs-combat-soldier-remarkable-achievement-yet-continual-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Modernising the ADF\u2019s combat soldier: a remarkable achievement, yet a continual challenge | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite the lack of fanfare, a 22-year program to modernise the ADF\u2019s combat soldier has transformed this most vital of land force capabilities into one that is truly world-leading. 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