Anyone at the Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research (ADSTAR) summit in Adelaide last month will have recognised an increased sense of urgency attached to defence tech development efforts.
It has been a big year for strategy creation within Defence, and it is fortunate that ADSTAR arrived when it did just to put all that strategic thinking into context.
This year has seen the release of the new National Defence Strategy, the Defence Industry Development Strategy and the Defence Innovation, Science and Technology Strategy.
In this episode of the Commercial Disco podcast, Australia’s Chief Defence Scientist professor Tanya Monro discusses capability development and highlights the areas of most activity in the defence sector.
She discusses the way in which lessons from the war in Europe are being incorporated into Australia’s development efforts, and how our Five Eyes and even AUKUS relationships have strengthened these learnings.
And of course, as with any discussion about defence technology, Professor Monro discusses the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to meet Defence needs, and the integration of private sector R&D into the mainstream Defence technology acquisition program.
And as with any discussion about defence technology, Professor Monro discusses the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to meet Defence needs, and the integration of private sector R&D into the mainstream Defence technology acquisition program.
Professor Monro also discusses battle developments in Ukraine, and how Defence is incorporating some of those learnings into tech development programs.
“The broader Defence enterprise is very actively watching and learning lessons from Ukraine, as you would expect us to do,” Professor Monro said.
“It helps us test some of [our] thinking, and the work we’ve been doing to make sure that Australia makes choices that are truly asymmetric.”
“We have to put our money where it’ll make the biggest difference in Ukraine. It’s interesting to see how attritable systems at large volume are changing the calculus [of the war] and allowing them to stay in the fight in ways that perhaps couldn’t have been predicted at the start of this protracted conflict.
“We also get really clear eyes on what’s happening in the Ukraine through our Five Eyes partnerships, of course, for other members of the Five Eyes, such as the UK, they’re very much closer, and it’s a more visceral and immediate threat,” Professor Monro said.
“And the fact that each of the Five Eyes nations together are pulling their scientific capabilities means that we can each access a much greater pool of expertise,” she said. “It means that we can draw directly on that insight from our UK brethren.”
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