Australian Perspectives on Global Air and Space Power

Nicole Townsend is currently completing a PhD in History at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. Her thesis focuses on Australia’s war in the Mediterranean during the Second World War, and she has both presented and published more broadly on the Second World War. She currently works as a researcher on the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, based at the Australian War Memorial. Kus Pandey was the manager of the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society (ACSACS) at the Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of New South Wales from 2018 to 2019. She was awarded an Australia Day Medallion by the Department of Defence for her contribution to ACSACS, with specific recognition of her support of the Sir James Rowland Seminars. Jarrod Pendlebury is an honorary research fellow with The King’s School Institute and a senior strategist in the Royal Australian Air Force. His research interests focus on the intersection of sociology and strategy, with particular emphasis on air power, and he has been published widely in Australia, Europe, and the United States.

Introduction: An Australian Perspective on Air and Space Power Part One: Historical Perspectives 1. Military Aviation in the British Dominions before the First World War 2. The Australian Prisoner of War Experience in Stalag Luft III, 1942–45 3. Sir James Rowland and the Changing Strategic Use of Air Power in Australia, 1942–1979 4. Australian Air Power Strategy, Technologies, and Counter-insurgency in Malaya during the Cold War Part Two: Identity and Culture 5. The Importance of Asking Why the Royal Australian Air Force Exists 6. Identity as a Gatekeeper in Western Air Forces 7. The RAAF and the Tyranny of Training Part Three: Technology and Air Power 8. Human, Organisational, and Technological Lessons from Air Power and Joint Operations in Major Conflict 9. The Privatisation of Air Power 10. Hypersonic Propulsion as an Air Power Disruption or Disturbance 11. Military Culture and Resistance to Technical Innovation 12. Rubbery Assumptions: Anti-G Suits and Air Power in the Second World War Part Four: Air and Space Power in the 21st Century 13. Ethics, Strategy, and Australian Air Power in the 21st Century 14. Manoeuvre in the 21st Century 15. An Overview of Australian Space Power, from Desert Rockets to New Beginnings Part Five: Future Directions 16. Can the ADF become the Most Uncrewed and Autonomy-enabled Defence Force in the World? 17. Space Power and the Vulnerabilities of Satellites 18. Considering the Effects of Disruptive Technologies on Air and Space Power 19. Conclusion