Coral Sea Redux?
Could Australia face another crisis and restructuring of its strategic security arrangements down the road?
View ArticleIndonesia: Great Power on Australia’s Doorstep?
The following is the first cross-post of an article that originally ran on the site of our new partners at Security Scholar, an Australia-based security blog. First published last month, the relation...
View ArticleA Busy Week in the South China Sea
It’s been a busy week for the South China Sea. For those of you keeping score at home, these are some of the news stories we’ve been following: 1. Post-ASEAN fall-out: After ASEAN failed last...
View ArticleMore Than Words: Australia-Indonesia Strategic Relations
By Natalie Sambhi Australia’s leaders from both sides of politics have been paying greater attention to Indonesia; there’s been more official engagement, as well as new diplomatic and defence...
View ArticleMFP 9: Final Predictions For The Future
Any final predictions? This is the ninth and final regular post in our Maritime Futures Project. For more information on the contributors, click here. Note: The opinions and views expressed in these...
View ArticleAmphibious Operations: More Than Meets the Eye
By Andrew Davies In the last few weeks, we’ve seen some impressive photographs and the naming ceremony of the first of the 27,000 tonne Canberra-class landing helicopter docks (LHDs) coming together in...
View ArticleUncertainty and Australian Force Structure Planning
By Peter Layton When talking about current defence and security matters there seems strong agreement on at least one characteristic: the future is uncertain. Of course that’s true, and many things...
View ArticleWho Is Ahead In Asia’s Carrier Arms Race?
Asia’s maritime arms race has again highlighted the emerging relevance of aircraft carriers. China, India and Japan made significant progress with their flattops. As all major powers in the region run...
View ArticleIndonesia and the Next Australian Defence White Paper
By Daniel Grant Australia’s Abbott government has promised to write a new Defence White Paper within 18 months, and one of the key challenges it will face is considering the place of Indonesia in...
View ArticleKeeping an Eye on the South (China Sea): Implications of Recent Incidents for...
When discussing China’s strategy in the South China Sea it is first necessary to begin by asserting that there is in fact a strategy, which is readily discernible from public documents and...
View ArticleUnderstanding Australia’s Submarine Choice
Australia is set to embark upon its most ambitious, complex, and expensive defense project in history – the design and construction of its first indigenous submarine. Understanding why Australia has...
View ArticleStrategic Communication and the Growing Australia–Indonesia Crisis
This post originally appeared at the Australia Strategic Policy Institute and was cross-posted by permission. The United States has thus far avoided getting publicly involved in the Indonesia–Australia...
View ArticleIndonesia’s Skin in the Game
Indonesia Faces the Reality of Chinese Maritime Claims With the possibility of a March snow day shutting down the U.S. government’s Washington, DC, offices on Monday, I had the pleasure of being able...
View ArticleSea Control 34, Asia-Pacific: Game-Changers
This week, Sea Control Asia Pacific looks at ‘gamechangers’ in Asia. Natalie Sambhi, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, interviews her colleagues Dr Rod Lyon and Daniel Grant about the ways...
View ArticleEurope’s Role in an East Asian War
Major war in East Asia is a very unpleasant, but not unthinkable scenario. Of course, the US would be involved from day one in any military conflict in the East or South China Seas. However, Europe’s...
View ArticleSea Control 42: Asian-Pacific Fighters in Iraq and Syria
This week, Sea Control Asia Pacific turns its focus to foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria. Natalie Sambhi, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, interviews Andrew Zammit, a...
View ArticleSea Control 53 – Indonesian Security Policy
Happy Birthday CIMSEC! In celebration of CIMSEC’s first birthday, Sea Control Asia Pacific is bringing you a special podcast with an all-star cast. On the sidelines of the Conference of Australian and...
View ArticleProtecting the Exclusive Ecconomic Zone – Part II
Feature Picture: LÉ Samuel Beckett the latest OPV of the Irish Naval Service (Trilogy Corporate Site 2014) Geographical and Oceanographical Factors When designing OPVs the core question a nation will...
View ArticleMembers’ Round-Up Part 6
Welcome back to another edition of the Member Round-Up. As always there is a wide variety of topics covered by CIMSEC members. There his, however, a distinct ‘air power’ flavour from our USAF members...
View ArticleMember Round-Up Part 7
Good evening CIMSECians and welcome back to another edition of the Member Round-Up. Our members have had a busy few weeks posting on a variety of security topics. We have shared a few of them here with...
View ArticleSea Control 63: Iraq Air Strikes
In one of the last Asia Pacific podcasts for 2014, Sea Control Asia Pacific turns to the Middle East: the first 100 days of airstrikes against ISIL, to be specific. Natalie Sambhi interviews the...
View ArticleForecast 2015: Maritime Challenges in the Indian Ocean
Guest Post by Vijay Sakhuja What could be the trend lines for 2015 in the Indian Ocean? A quick survey of events, incidents and trends in the Indian Ocean during 2014 suggests that the region witnessed...
View ArticleMembers’ Roundup Part 10
Welcome back to another edition of the Members’ Roundup. There is an array of contributors featured in this week’s post. Topics range from exoskeletons in the Navy to assessing China’s nuclear arsenal....
View ArticleSea Control 67 – Japan’s Defense Budget
Welcome back to the Asia Pacific segment of Sea Control! In this episode Natalie Sambhi picks the brains of Dr Malcolm Cook of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore) and Dr Ben Schreer of...
View ArticleSea Control 69 – South Pacific
Heard of Guadalcanal? Check. But what about the rest of the South Pacific? Between 1999 and 2012, Australia committed troops to multiple peacekeeping and stabilisation missions in Timor Leste, the...
View ArticleMembers’ Roundup Part 17
Welcome back to another edition of the Members’ Roundup, where we share with the rest of the CIMSEC readership the great work that our members have produced elsewhere. From the geopolitical situation...
View ArticleThe South Pacific’s Cyclone Pam
A Story of Climate Change, Destruction and Global Solidarity The little archipelago of Vanuatu in the South Pacific has been struck by a tropical cyclone of nearly unprecedented scale on the night from...
View ArticleMembers’ Roundup Part 18
Welcome back to another edition of the Roundup! After a brief hiatus we are back to share with you more of our members’ works. There are plenty of articles to share, ranging from maritime...
View ArticleSea Control 76 – Australia’s Iran Intel Deal
In this week’s podcast, we try to make sense of Australia’s intelligence deal with Iran. The country’s Foreign Minister has explained that the informal arrangement will assist in gathering intelligence...
View ArticleChina’s South China Sea Strategy: Simply Brilliant
This article can be found in its original form at ASPI here, and was republished with permission. In the past 12 months, China has provoked considerable attention with its reclamation activities in the...
View ArticleSea Control 90 – An Australian Marine Corps?
Should Australia develop its own Marine Corps? In this podcast, Natalie Sambhi interviews Peter Dean, Senior Fellow at ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, and Associate Dean Education at the...
View ArticleAUSINDEX-2015: Australia ‘Pivots’ to the Indian Ocean
This publication originally featured at the National Maritime Foundation, and was republished with permission. It can be found in its original form here. By Dr. Gurpreet S. Khurana In mid-September...
View ArticleOctober Member Round-Up Part Two
Welcome to Part Two of the October 2015 Member Round-Up, covering the second two weeks of the month. Over the past two weeks the U.S. freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea...
View ArticleHistory and the Sea: Interview with Sarah Ward, Marine Archaeologist
Interview performed by Alex Calvo The sea is a vital venue for trade and national security, and also holds the key to understanding much of our past. From the dispute over the South China Sea, to the...
View ArticleSea Control 110 – Small Arms Control and the South Pacific
This week Natalie Sambhi interviews fellow Aussie Laura Spano, Arms Control Manager with the Centre for Armed Violence Reduction and Pacific Regional Coordinator for Control Arms. They discuss small...
View ArticleFebruary Members’ Roundup Part One
By Sam Cohen Welcome to part one of the February 2016 members’ roundup. Over the past month CIMSEC members have examined several international maritime security issues, including recent Indian Navy...
View ArticleSea Control 112 – Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper
Australia’s Defence White Paper, submarines and scotch? Sounds like a recipe for a fun time. Get ready for a special joint episode with the Perth USAsia Centre’s Perspectives podcast series. In this...
View ArticleAfter the Shangri-La Dialogue – For China, So What and Now What?
By Tuan N. Pham Singapore hosted the 2017 Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) from June 2-4. The dialogue was well attended by defense ministers from the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand,...
View ArticleHow Australia’s Maritime Strategy and Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific Upset...
By David Scott Introduction On 4 September 2017, an Australian naval task group departed from Sydney and embarked on a unique deployment called Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2017 to participate in a series...
View ArticleTurnbull’s Choice: Australian Security Policy Evolves to Face a Rapidly...
This article originally appeared in Strategic Vision for Taiwan Security and is republished with permission. Read it in its original form here. By David Andre Reacting to Australia’s Foreign Policy...
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