Toward 2015, Challenges for a Medium Navy: An Australian Perspective

• Author: Raydon Gates
• Position: Rear Admiral, Royal Australian Navy
• Pages: 259-267

XIII

Toward 2015, Challenges for aMedium Navy:

An Australian Perspective

Raydon Gates*

The purpose of this article is to provide an operator's assessment of future

challenges for amedium sized Navy from an Australian perspective. Iam

going to range quite widely across warfighting and organizational issues and sug-

gest afew areas where Imight be able to generate some work for our judge advocate

colleagues. Iwill conclude with ashort scenario that Ihope will set people thinking

about the legal issues associated with future combat operations, enabled by net-

work centric warfare in acoalition setting.

Let me begin by addressing what Isee as the most important future warfighting

trends. Iam sure that they will not be asurprise to most ofyou. The Royal Austra-

lian Navy's (RAN) job is to protect the sovereignty of Australia, Australia's inter-

ests and Australian citizens. Australia's interests are global, our national security

strategy is maritime in nature and our government's approach to global security is-

sues reflects these facts. Therefore, the first enduring trend is arequirement for our

Navy to be able to project maritime power at home and offshore, wherever Austra-

lia's interests may lie. This trend is accompanied by arequirement to deliver com-

bat power across the spectrum of conflict, whether that be in support of coalition

*Rear Admiral, Royal Australian Navy. The views expressed in this article are those ofthe author

alone and do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government, the Australian

Defence Force, or the Royal Australian Navy. ©2006 by Raydon Gates.