In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, launched a new defense and security strategy for Australia. This strategy reset is a significant one and puts Australia on the path of enhanced defense capabilities. It is a serious shift in its policies towards China, and in reworking alliance relationships going forward. This new strategy is designed to focus Australia’s attention on the Indo-Pacific region, and it will have a significant impact on its closest ally, the United States, as well. This strategic shift has been several years in the making, and this book addresses the course of this strategic rethink.
But this book although focused on Australia, is not just about Australia. The strategic shift from the land wars to full spectrum crisis management requires the liberal democracies to have forces lethal enough, survivable enough and agile enough to support full spectrum crisis management. What is being shaped is an integrated distributed force able to operate through interactive kill webs. Because the Australian Defence Force is small but operating in many ways the most modern Air Force in the democratic world, they have focused on force integration as a key necessity to achieve the desired combat effect.