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Opinion: The Defence Strategic Review, recently handed to the Australian government, will have a heavy emphasis on Defence hardware — submarines, missiles, armoured vehicles, and ships. It is also likely to include a menu of options to reform complex Defence acquisition processes. However, with Defence struggling to recruit and retain talented people, is there enough room in the discussion for the most important advantage Australia maintains — the human domain? Asks MAJGEN (Ret’d) Gus McLachlan.
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When receiving the Defence Strategic Review for consideration, Prime Minister the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP pointed to the need to “help prepare Australia to effectively respond to the changing regional and global strategic environment and ensure Defence’s capability and structure is fit for purpose and delivers the greatest return on investment”.
In an understated way, the Prime Minister was describing a grand challenge for Australia. To defend Australia in the most challenging strategic environment since WWII, Australia needs to think beyond hardware and address the human dimension. Without highly skilled people in our uniform services, broader Department of Defence and defence industry, equipment will lie idle or be dangerously unreliable.
That’s a challenge, because in the human domain there is a need to train the Australian Defence Force and department staff to operate in an increasingly challenging environment, where the range of training demands on the force is growing exponentially.
If we add the AUKUS pact to build nuclear-powered submarines into the equation, the increase in recruitment, education, and training needs is enormous. The Australian government estimates that AUKUS will support 20,000 jobs over 30 years across the ADF, the public service, and private industry. While the focus has been on the need for nuclear engineers, we will also need new project managers, cyber experts, electrical and mechanical engineers, and a myriad of other highly skilled roles.
Many of these people require decades of experience and high-level security clearances to work in the defence domain. Unfortunately, existing recruiting and retention strategies do not appear to be working. Defence has very high levels of wastage in both the Army and the Navy and the defence industry is often accused of cannibalising itself to deliver competing projects.
With hundreds of billions of dollars going into hardware and facilities, are we leaving the human dimension too far down the list? If we want to recruit and retain high-calibre people, perhaps we need to move the human dimension up the priority list.
Before we look overseas to foreign defence prime contractors to meet our workforce needs, let’s start in our own backyard.
The use of advanced immersive technology, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR, and augmented reality (AR) may just provide an opportunity to solve the skilled workers crisis and in doing so, contribute to enhancing our sovereign capabilities.
The people joining the defence sector workforce are now predominantly Gen Z — they are digital natives who have been exposed to technology throughout their lives and their education journey. Unfortunately, many report that on reaching the defence force, they find an organisation with training systems not as advanced as they may have experienced at school and university.
Defence sector leaders will have to engage with new and existing staff in a more dynamic learning environment capable of replicating the complexity and ambiguity of the modern operational environment.
AI technology will soon become an operational coach and guide — a human, machine team that will allow soldiers, sailors, and aircrew to reach into a well of experience to guide their actions. Connecting the operating environment to the world of immersive technology, we could be using AR and VR to improve how we keep our equipment maintained.
Defence sector work is not suitable for everyone, so every recruit counts. Immersive technology offers a means to improve the recruitment and retention of talented people by helping them visualise and understand the opportunities in the sector.
Modern training needs to cover new roles, unknown a few years ago. Recruits need training on drones, cyber, AI and analytic tools , as well as nuclear technology. The human and cultural domain of defence operations is also increasingly complex.
In a sphere of activity where competitors are adopting “grey zone” tactics to create ambiguity and uncertainty for defence personnel and decision makers, immersive technology offers opportunities for improved training. AI, VR, and AR can help trainees visualise situations, stimulate their curiosity and be challenged.
Whether it be lessons from grey zone activities in the South China Sea or from the war in Ukraine, it is clear that future members of the ADF require realistic and challenging training to prepare them for ambiguity, chaos, and confusion. Complex situations that are hard to replicate, dangerous and costly in live training can be safely and effectively conducted in the virtual world. Just as immersive technology can make adoption safer and more cost effective by integrating different products and user experiences, it can also eliminate barriers like distance.
Virtual reality and augmented reality tools are about much more than putting on a good show. The complexity and rapid rate of change faced by members of the Australian Defence Force and their supporting industry partners make harnessing the virtual world an essential operational enhancement.
Major General (Ret’d) Fergus (Gus) McLachlan led Land Forces Command in the Army, and the Army’s investigation into cyber, robotics and data analytic tools. Over his 37 years in the military, he held senior operational roles in Iraq and Afghanistan and is currently a senior adviser and consultant on competitiveness and resilience of organisations and institutions. He is a senior adviser to Lumination.
