Download - Royal Australian Navy

is the adf too stove-piped to effectively undertake expeditionary operations?
155
at the two-star level with the subordinate directorates retaining their single Service focus,
is not a recipe for jointness.
16
Department of Defence, The Strategic Reform Program 2009: Delivering Force 2030, Canberra,
2009 and Mr George Pappus, 2008 Audit of the Defence Budget - Executive Summary, p. 12.
(12 February 2010). There are
already examples of super basing in the ADF with the Multi-User Depots (MUD) at HMAS
Harman and Leeuwin Barracks.
17
The Parachute Ready Group is currently based in Holsworthy in Sydney’s South West, the
C-130s are based at RAAF Richmond in Sydney’s West. Any short notice deployment of
the Parachute Ready Group requires the transportation of forces from Holsworthy to RAAF
Richmond and this normally occurs by road.
18
Following the Tange Review in 1973.
19
The JOC Operational Preparedness Requirement (OPR) is a classified document that specifies
the readiness requirements of the ADF. In theory, all units in the ADF are linked to one or
more serials in the JOC OPR.
20
The reduction in capability is a perception issue. Taking the Joint Strike Fighter for example,
there are essentially two models available, a conventional model and a vertical take-off model,
that could potentially land on the LHDs. The vertical takeoff model would have greater timeon
station for an amphibious force as if it was unable to refuel it could land on the LHD.
21
Department of Defence, Defence Capability Plan 2009, Public Version, Canberra, 2009.
22
The large amount of equipment provided in the 2009 Defence White Paper, and in particular the
reduction of some capabilities to minimum sustainable levels, indicates that the Services did
not lose capabilities. The size of the savings required as part of the Strategic Reform Program,
further indicated that large savings in the Defence Budget was preferred to cutting capabilities.
23
This trend for heavy equipment applies to our allies, including the US Marine Corps, which
recently had its first case of weighing out a ship, prior to bulking out, due to the increasing
weight of vehicles. One of the vehicles under consideration for the Army’s new Light Protected
Vehicle, the Hawkei by Thales, weighs seven tonnes. This would place the vehicle at the
upper limit of the CH-47 lift capability. Therefore, the deployment of large numbers of these
vehicles can only occur via waterborne landing craft and even then, this will probably be
limited to two vehicles at a time.
24
From an address by Lieutenant General Peter Leahy AO, then Chief of the Australian Army,
to the Royal United Services Institute of the United Kingdom at the Royal Palace of Whitehall
on 8 June 2006. Reproduced in Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, ‘The Medium Weight Force:
Lessons Learnt and Future Contributions to Coalition Operations’, Australian Army Journal,
vol. 3, no. 2, winter 2006, p. 22.
25
From Head Modernisation and Strategic Planning - Army (HMSP-A) Directive 24/09, ‘Army’s
Next Step - The Land Force: Expeditionary in Orientation’, 22 October 2009. Endorsed by
ACMC (Army Capability Modernisation Committee) on 14 August 2009.
26
The four operational areas provided, in priority order are: the Australian territorial area, the
South Pacific and East Timor, the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world. Department
of Defence, Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century, p. 13.
27
Other tasks include intra-state conflict, threats from non-state global actors, domestic security
and emergency response. Department of Defence, Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific
Century, pp. 21-5.