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122 australian maritime issues 2009: spc-a annual
21st century warfare (RAN)
Twenty-first century warfare may be conceptualised as joint land forces (largely
Army-Air Force) operating in the land environment, joint maritime forces (largely
Navy-Air Force) operating in the sea environment, and maritime expeditionary forces
(Army-Navy-Air Force) operating in the littoral environment. It is worth repeating,
expeditionary forces are by definition inherently joint. This concept of 21st century
warfare is represented in the above diagram.
Adaptive Campaigning
The Australian Army’s adaption cycle (act-sense-decide-adapt) is applicable to joint
operations in the littoral, where combat is potentially a very complex adaptive system,
and much of the conceptual thinking behind Adaptive Campaigning with a joint land
force is also equally relevant for the maritime expeditionary force. However, in order
to adequately incorporate the littoral within the Adaptive Campaigning concept, it will
be necessary to broaden the applicability of the ‘Five Lines of Operation’ to encompass
operations in the littoral environment. By employing a similar approach to that used in
the existing Army concepts, the ‘Five Lines of Operation’, may be simplified to: combat,
protection, informing, supporting and capacity building (as shown in the diagram below).
Each of these would then have similar but different activities associated with tasks in the
littorals. In turn, the functional analysis for each line would need to incorporate those subconcepts
associated with employment in the littorals as part of a maritime expeditionary
force. This approach needs to be inclusive of all three Services and should avoid any
exclusive single Service approach. Only by such actions will Adaptive Campaigning breach
the ramparts of its single Service origins and evolve into a practical joint methodology.