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adaptive campaigning with a maritime expeditionary force
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An inclusive approach to Adaptive Campaigning (RAN)
At the time of writing, Adaptive Campaigning is limited by a few unstated assumptions that
have ignored the unique parameters and fundamental characteristics of littoral operations.
Adaptive Campaigning assumes a joint land force engaged in a limited conflict in a foreign
country (such as an expeditionary force). Rather than addressing how the Australian Army
contributes as a fundamental component within a maritime expeditionary force, Adaptive
Campaigning assumes that military units operating in the littoral environment will act as
they would in any other environment. Littoral operations are typically understood to be a
sub-set of operations in tropical, desert and cold weather environments. There is apparently
still a perception within the Australian Army that one needs to ‘disembark’ or ‘land’ from a
ship in the same way that a soldier might ‘de-plane’ from a transport aircraft, or ‘de-train’
or ‘de-bus’ from a vehicle on land. The assumption is that one has to ‘disembark’ before
the real operations begin, where the Army feels most at home, on land. This misses the
whole point of the flexibility and utility of maritime forces. A maritime expeditionary force
is both a base for operations (on the water) and a manoeuvre element in its own right. It
would appear that some within Army might opt for continuity in a continental approach
rather than take the quantum leap necessary for 21st century warfare in the littorals, but
they should be reminded that the Army has gone through a number of episodic paradigm
shifts in the past, and that these have led to the Australian Army conducting numerous
successful littoral operations. Unfortunately such attempted shifts have only survived for
relatively short periods - the important examples being 1914, 1943-45, and 1999-2000.
The littorals are as yet only gradually being absorbed into the Australian Army’s culture
and they have yet to reach the levels required to achieve a sustained transformation.
The Army’s Manoeuvre Operations in the Littoral Environment (MOLE) concept was a
move in the right direction but it has not kept pace with the major developments of the
last decade. 21 But MOLE is just part of the answer, modern expeditionary operations are
certainly different: not only are expeditionary operations highly politicised but they require
substantial different practices than those usually applicable to ‘normal’ land and ‘normal’
sea (blue water) environments. 22