Page 88 - Australian Defence Magazine September 2018

LAND FORCES
HAMEL
“It is a premier
hit-out for the ADF and indeed for our whole of government partners.”
DEFENCE
DEFENCE
“That is our most important obliga- tion and Hamel very much enables us to achieve that in the certification sense, but the other thing Beersheba does is to allow us space for modernisation and re- capitalisation programs – where we can bring new, step-change equipment into those parts of Army that aren’t being involved in certification,” he explained. “So, Beersheba helps us to manage our operational tempo, our modernisation and recapitalisation and, most impor- tantly, manage our preparedness and readiness for Government.”
Outcomes and lessons learned
Brigadier James said that 7 Brigade came through their certification “with flying co- lours”, and other significant outcomes in- cluded the importance of the ADF’s ability to operate alongside its allies and partners. At Hamel 2018, this included working through the process of integrating all the participants into the Joint Force and ensur- ing that information can be moved around
the entire battlespace – Air, Sea and Land domains – in a seamless and timely manner. “We certainly learned how capable Na- vy’s LHDs are, in terms of what they can hold, move and deploy, whether that’s in a regional Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) operation of for high-end warfighting operations. They are a won- derful capability and it was great to have
them alongside at Hamel,” he said.
“We also learned a lot about working with Navy, Air Force and whole of gov- ernment partners. At the end of the day, Army is never going to fight alone and our partners make us much more capable,
much harder-hitting and with much greater reach than we could ever hope to achieve as a single service.”
BRIG James says that Army is, as the new Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr (see this month’s From the Source interview with LTEN Burr for more) describes, an “Army in motion” and Hamel 2018 demonstrated that tru- ism, in terms of preparing for contingencies.
“Hamel really does dem- onstrate the capacity and the strength of the Joint Force and Army’s key role in that Joint Force. We need to think more
LEFT: A 2RAR soldier boards an MRH-90 helicopter at Sabina Point.
BELOW: A combined force consisting of 7th Brigade soldiers and US Marines clear Raspberry Creek urban training facility of ‘Red Force’ enemy in a dawn raid.
in terms of the ADF and whole of govern- ment capability, rather than the individual services. Australia needs its ADF far more than it needs its Army, Navy and Air Force - Hamel has evolved to represent that reality,” he concluded.
“Every time we undertake exercises like this, our people never cease to impress me in terms how innovative they are, their professionalism in delivering capability and how capable they are. We are blessed with some really impressive young Aus- tralian men and women who serve in our ADF and it’s great to work alongside them on exercises like Hamel.”
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