Australia is building a more mobile and dispersed Army, designed to operate across the country's northern approaches and project land power into the littoral. New landing craft, long-range fires, armoured and aviation capabilities are central to that shift. But their operational value will depend on whether the logistics infrastructure, services and supply chains behind them can work together as a connected system.
Making the littoral force operational: The logistics of Australia's Northern Theatre examines what this emerging northern theatre logistics system will need to deliver. It looks at how the Defence Force (ADF) will generate, move, sustain and regenerate force across the north, and the bases, ports, airfields, transport corridors, stocks, workforce, health support and commercial capacity needed to do so.
Many of these components are already being built or expanded. What is less clear is how they will work together, the capacity they are expected to provide and the civilian infrastructure and commercial services they rely on. The report examines Darwin, Townsville and northwestern Australia as the principal operating nodes, supported by Brisbane and potential logistics capacity in Alice Springs and Central Queensland.
Building these individual components is only part of the challenge. The report argues that Defence needs to provide greater visibility of northern logistics requirements, clarify how major operating and supporting nodes will work together, strengthen critical civilian capacity and give industry greater certainty to invest in northern sustainment.
