04/26/07

Blunted Sabre - Does the ADF need Armour? (1994)

The RAAC (Royal Australian Armoured Corps) is in decline. Why is this? What tasks can armour perform? Is further investment justified, or should we dispense with armour altogether?

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Vietnam Re-examined (1995)

The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment arrived in South Vietnam through June of 1965. The deployment of combat troops is remembered in controversial terms.

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Dwi fungsi: The dual function role of Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (1996)

The dual function (Dwi fungsi) role of Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (ABRI) is well known if often misunderstood.  What is the role of the Indonesian military in their society? What problems does it face and what are the prospects for the future?

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Peace Keeping, Casualties and Public Opinion (1995)

Australia's involvement in peace keeping operations has increased greatly in recent years. Fortunately there have been fewer casualties than might have been anticipated.  This situation has been as much by good luck as good management.  How many casualties might be expected? What  might the public response to increasing  casualties?   The Government should have a contingency plan to manage such a situation.

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Why Defence Bureaucracy can't help itself (1996)

The litany of Defence Department bungles is long. One might think that those charged with managing the billion dollar defence budget are either slothful or incompetent.  This view would be disingenuous considering the many dedicated professionals involved. What insights can economic thinking offers to this problem?

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The Bennelong option (1997)

It is assumed that Australian's would resist any foreign invasion. Our rouseabout contempt of authority, independent fervour, and heroic ANZAC image would suggest nothing less. However this might be assuming too much.

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Fast Jets for everyone! (2001)

Sheer numbers of weapons systems is a somewhat crude measure of countries military competence or commitment to defence. With that proviso it is interesting to compare Combat aircraft on per capita of population basis. Of course in this information age, a more interesting comparison might be computing power.

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Latent Reserves  (2001)

Typical Australian army reserves units comprise of personnel who on average have a little over two years part-time service ... Compare this with one US National Guard tank unit ... A majority of senior officers had prior active service experience, four were West Point graduates, and 90% of one company were former active service personnel. Most of this unit’s members were veterans of the Gulf War.

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Stretching the back of the envelope(2002)

The Defence Department is exploring options to replace Australia’s fleet of F-111 and F/A-18 combat aircraft sometime in the next decade. This will be the most costly defence project in Australia’s history.

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How much defence spending is enough? (2004)

Australia currently spends around $15 billion per annum or about 1.8% of GDP on defence. There has been public debate that this amount of money is not enough to meet current defence needs and represents a decline in real terms over recent years. But how much money for defence is enough? 

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