Ibid - Australian Army

Land Warfare Studies Centre 20
the importance of surveillance over vast distances and the need for
nonlinear defensive operations based on numerically inferior forces
using dispersion, surprise and deception. Between 1977 and 1979,
the Fundamentals of Land Force Operations was followed by
additional pamphlets laying down provisional doctrine for
formation tactics, command and control, and combat surveillance. 74
Army Reorganisation and Doctrine Development 1977–89:
The Impact of Specialisation and Total Force Concepts
Although the doctrine promulgated in 1977 was provisional, it
remained in force for eight years in the case of the Fundamentals of
Land Force Operations, for six years in the case of doctrine for
command and control, and for a decade in the case of doctrine for
formation tactics. One of the major reasons for the slow emergence
of the various pamphlets in the MLW was the rapid pace of
organisational change within the Army. Doctrine had difficulty in
keeping up with the force structure and capability developments
that drove change in the Army in the late 1970s and first half of the
1980s. A brief review of the Army’s organisational changes
between 1977 and 1982 is necessary in order to understand the
context in which doctrine was developed.
Towards the Army of the 1980s: The Dunstan Organisational
Reforms 1977–82
Towards the end of the 1970s it became clear that operations on
Australian soil could not be met easily by the 1976 TIB 28 infantry
divisional organisation. The TIB 28 division lacked sufficient
versatility, mobility and logistical flexibility to engage fully in
74
Australian Army, Manual of Land Warfare, Part One, Volume 1,
Pamphlet No. 4, Formation Tactics (Provisional) 1977, Army Office,
Canberra, June 1977; Pamphlet No. 2, Command and Control
(Provisional), 1977, Army Office, Canberra, June 1977; Training
Information Bulletin No. 31, Combat Surveillance 1979, Army Office,
Canberra, April 1979.