Land Warfare Symposium 2019
The 2018 Strategic Defence Policy Statement points to an inherently complex and dynamic international security environment in the future, with an increasing importance on spheres of influence, challenges to open societies, western liberalism and the rule of law. The international security environment faces the impact of complex disrupters. These disrupters will require the New Zealander Defence Force as part of the wider All of Government security apparatus, and acting with our allies and partners, to ensure our security approach can meet threats in the traditional land, maritime and air domains, as well as the emerging space and information domains, and across a wide range of physical and geo-political environments.
Over two days, 25–26 September 2019, the Land and Special Operations Components hosted a Land Warfare Symposium to discuss “Land Operations in an Urban Environment.” The symposium was held at Linton Military Camp outside Palmerston North with over 200 personnel attending from the NZDF, 5VEYS partners, Academia and other government agencies.
The future points to conflict fought in increasingly littoral, urban, contested, connected and competing environments. Operations in an Urban Environment are complex, diverse, dispersed, and lethal. We are contesting non-state aligned groups, protecting population from potential hostilities associated with destabilised political systems, or providing support to a population ravaged by natural disaster. This variable operational situation requires a force that is versatile, resilient, agile, and able to combine and synchronise effects in a precise and discriminating fashion. That force must be modular, highly educated and skilled and capable of operating in a joint, inter-agency, inter-governmental, multi-national framework when required.
The Chief of Army opened the symposium with a recorded message that stressed the importance of the symposium and the effect that it would have on the future force development in the NZ Army. The Land Warfare Symposium consisted of keynote speakers from academia, foreign militaries, and non-governmental organisations as well as panel discussions led by DJIATF, SOCC, 1 (NZ) Bde, and TRADOC. The keynote speakers discussed a variety of subject matters using recent urban operations in Marawi, Philippines and Mosul, Iraq to emphasise the effects of military operations in an urban environment. This included a focus on civilian population, the future of military operations, and the necessity of leveraging non-governmental organizations and other government agencies to conduct operations in an urban environment. The panels discussed the necessity of Combined Joint Inter-Governmental Inter-Agency Multi-National (CJIIM) Operations, man/machine/manoeuvre, the Multi-Role Battalion Group, and Force Generation and Education to prepare the NZ Army for future operations.
Additionally, the Land Warfare Symposium consisted of a marquee’ display outside of the Cultural Centre that showcased some of the new and existing technology used by the NZDF as well as some technology still in development. This included the future soldier systems, unmanned aerial systems, virtual reality and simulation technology, the MANTIS marksmanship trainer, K9 units, and an armoured vehicle.
The Land Warfare Symposium 2019 allowed attendees to reflect back on recent operations in order to assist with looking forward to potential operating environments of the future. It also served as a mechanism to engage with our partners and allies, so that we could learn from their experiences and perspectives. The event was used as a mechanism to broaden awareness and promote a forward-looking Force that has a better understanding of both the threats and opportunities of the future. All attendees were encouraged to critically think about the complex problems we as an organisation face in the international security environment, specifically in the Urban Environment, in order to help shape our future force. At the conclusion of the Land Warfare Symposium, key leaders discussed the way ahead and what they see as future requirements to providing a ready force. This event assisted them in setting a course and a way ahead, but there is still work to be done in the coming months.
