{"id":60251,"date":"2020-11-05T15:19:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T04:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=60251"},"modified":"2021-01-15T09:33:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T22:33:50","slug":"the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The decision to replace the Australian Army\u2019s 22 Airbus \u2018Aussie Tiger\u2019 armed reconnaissance helicopters was first announced in the 2016 defence white paper and then re-announced in this year\u2019s force structure plan. The process to choose a replacement is underway, but it\u2019s clear that retaining the Tigers and using the billions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on a new helicopter to provide complementary unmanned systems doesn\u2019t seem to be on the cards. That\u2019s despite the fact that these aircraft now have greater levels of operational readiness and capability than ever before and despite the rapid development in technologies that will threaten helicopters on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

If the army is determined to simply conduct a like-for-like replacement of the Tiger, the logical choices are the Boeing AH-64E Apache<\/a> and the Bell AH-1Z Viper<\/a>. But limiting the project in this way would mark a missed opportunity for Defence to take on a major transformation of its land-warfare capability. Such a transformation seems justified by the technological developments already evident now, which will only accelerate over the time it will take take to acquire and introduce a new helicopter.<\/p>\n

Defence should make this decision in a way that treats the new helicopter as part of a networked system of capabilities, rather than as a stand-alone platform. A key failing of the Tiger has been its inability to network with other elements of the Australian Defence Force, and the new platform must plug and play seamlessly and securely with existing army and ADF forces from the outset.<\/p>\n

The new helicopter is one part of a team of crewed and uncrewed platforms. \u2018Manned\u2013unmanned teaming\u2019 on the future battlespace, in which crewed attack helicopters work alongside swarms of armed uncrewed aerial vehicles, and even armed autonomous ground vehicles complementing crewed armoured fighting vehicles, has<\/em> to be the vision that the army aspires to.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most important is that the decision should reflect a land-warfare vision that includes large-scale use of armed autonomous systems in the air and on land. Adversaries will be taking advantage of the military power of such systems to complement\u2014or even replace\u2014crewed systems, and if our own defence organisation doesn\u2019t, Australia will be at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n

Such a system will demand investment in battlespace command and control that is resistant to countermeasures such as electronic warfare, cyberattack and kinetic attack. Such a capability needs to embrace the \u2018small, cheap and many\u2019 approach of \u2018command clouds\u2019 operating in the air, over land and even from space, using low-cost, small and easily deployable components. Very high altitude, long-endurance UAVs<\/a> operating in near space can complement locally developed and launched small satellites<\/a> and constellations of smart cubesats to provide tactical communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to swarms of lethal autonomous weapons. In such a scenario, an attack helicopter would hang back, managing the swarms via the command cloud, and avoid needlessly putting itself at risk over what will be an intensely contested battlespace.<\/p>\n

Factoring in the role of autonomous systems is crucial to thinking about the future of army capability, and the decision to replace the Tiger should be used as an inflection point in how we think about future war.<\/p>\n

As I noted in an earlier article<\/a>, armed drones are becoming more and more prevalent, placing large armoured fighting vehicles in increasing peril. We\u2019ve watched cheap suicide drones strike large, complex and expensive tanks in the battles between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh with relatively impunity. We should fully expect an adversary to use similar capabilities against the ADF. China\u2019s military, for example, has already tested massive swarms<\/a> of suicide drones that can be launched from the back of a truck. Add in much more capable battlefield rocket artillery, more advanced armoured fighting vehicles, and advanced electronic warfare and cyberattack capability, and 29 helicopters alone aren\u2019t going to provide a clear solution to a much more challenging future battlespace.<\/p>\n

With these challenges in mind, the Tiger replacement project must at a minimum provide a follow-on phase that considers lethal autonomous weapons to defend the helicopters themselves, protect forces on the ground and attack an opponent\u2019s forces\u2014including enemy swarms of UAVs. And it would be far preferable to begin such a complementary capability approach now, rather than after any new helicopter is acquired, even if this means buying fewer airframes.<\/p>\n

Obviously, operational context matters, and whatever platform Defence chooses will have to be able to operate in Australia\u2019s predominantly maritime environment, particularly as part of operations supporting the US to deter and counter any threat posed by an adversary in the Indo-Pacific. We shouldn\u2019t buy helicopters with a view to using them only in a low-intensity, lightly contested operational environment against an irregular adversary.<\/p>\n

Yet, even a low-tech threat can be dangerous. The US lost<\/a> 19 Apaches and 3 AH-1W Super Cobras to hostile fire in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. With the ADF facing the worsening strategic outlook outlined in the strategic update, the Tiger replacement decision should be looked at as part the army\u2019s preparation for Australian involvement in a high-intensity war in the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

The thorny issue of the army\u2019s strategic readiness and mobility must also be addressed, as well as Australia\u2019s ability to sustain high-intensity combat operations potentially far from home. The army has to be able to play a role in such a fight. So, how will it do it? The next attack helicopter isn\u2019t the biggest issue on the table\u2014it\u2019s how new capabilities are used to ensure the ADF can defend Australia\u2019s interests in a very high intensity operational environment during or even before war.<\/p>\n

Achieving a mass of combat forces by investing in large swarms of lethal autonomous weapons to operate alongside crewed platforms such as Apaches or Vipers would be a start. Complementing that capability with resilient battlespace command and control is essential. And ensuring the Australian Army is highly mobile and can decisively project force into a contested operational environment should be our goal in thinking about the future of war in our region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decision to replace the Australian Army\u2019s 22 Airbus \u2018Aussie Tiger\u2019 armed reconnaissance helicopters was first announced in the 2016 defence white paper and then re-announced in this year\u2019s force structure plan. The process to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":60257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[488,407,853],"class_list":["post-60251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-army","tag-autonomous-systems","tag-helicopter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict? | 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\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The decision to replace the Australian Army\u2019s 22 Airbus \u2018Aussie Tiger\u2019 armed reconnaissance helicopters was first announced in the 2016 defence white paper and then re-announced in this year\u2019s force structure plan. The process to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-05T04:19:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T22:33:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tigers0511.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"801\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Malcolm Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Malcolm Davis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tigers0511.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tigers0511.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":801},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/\",\"name\":\"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict? | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-05T04:19:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-14T22:33:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/004d5acd1b50c90b8d3af1ddfe0146e7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/004d5acd1b50c90b8d3af1ddfe0146e7\",\"name\":\"Malcolm Davis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e30138c7970d42c9a573bddc38c3101b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e30138c7970d42c9a573bddc38c3101b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Malcolm Davis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/malcolm-davis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict? | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict? | The Strategist","og_description":"The decision to replace the Australian Army\u2019s 22 Airbus \u2018Aussie Tiger\u2019 armed reconnaissance helicopters was first announced in the 2016 defence white paper and then re-announced in this year\u2019s force structure plan. The process to ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2020-11-05T04:19:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-14T22:33:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":801,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tigers0511.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Malcolm Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Malcolm Davis","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tigers0511.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tigers0511.jpg","width":1200,"height":801},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/","name":"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict? | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-11-05T04:19:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-14T22:33:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/004d5acd1b50c90b8d3af1ddfe0146e7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-eye-of-the-tiger-is-the-australian-army-preparing-for-the-right-conflict\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The eye of the Tiger: Is the Australian Army preparing for the right conflict?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/004d5acd1b50c90b8d3af1ddfe0146e7","name":"Malcolm Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e30138c7970d42c9a573bddc38c3101b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e30138c7970d42c9a573bddc38c3101b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Malcolm Davis"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/malcolm-davis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60251"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61846,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60251\/revisions\/61846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}