Air Power in the Joint Effect Seminar

Participants in the Air Power in the Joint Effect seminar outside Base Ohakea’s Officers Mess. OH-07-0769-01-tn.jpg.

The current RNZAF Strategic Plan has a host of initiatives that seek to improve the development of our people as Airmen, or air power specialists. In support of these initiatives, the Air Power Development Centre facilitated a seminar at Ohakea in November. The seminar, entitled Air Power in the Joint Effect, was shaped by a number of parties interested in the professional development and education of our people.

Given busy schedules and the immediate challenges we face, taking three days out to think about important but less tangible challenges, was a big ask. Thankfully, a core of some 55 personnel attended all three days of the seminar with extras each day bringing the numbers to around 70. This was a great effort and importantly, included representation from all the Services, overseas Air Forces, and a number of government agencies.

The seminar considered three themes over the three days. Day one looked at Contemporary Air Power and included addresses by recent RAF Afghanistan Commander GPCAPT Alan Byford and our own Commander Operational Support Group, GPCAPT Shaun Clarke. Day two was supported by speakers from the RAAF’s Air Operations Centre (AOC) Weapons System and also an address by the RAAF’s AIRCDRE Mark Skidmore, who held the position of Director of the Coalition AOC in Qatar for six months in 2005. Additionally, New Zealand Army and RNZN presenters offered environmental views on air power.

The final day brought the seminar back into a NZDF and New Zealand perspective. Speakers addressed matters of NZDF doctrine, command and control, capability development and potential futures for NZDF air power. Mr Rob Mackie, from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, presented on the Whole-of-Government approach to security and defence matters. The final afternoon saw the ACC chair a panel that lead discussions around ‘So What?’ for the NZDF and New Zealand?

So what were the lessons from the Seminar? A strategic theme of current NZDF thinking is the notion of the Agile Force; a notion to which air power would appear well suited. As our overseas guests reminded us, the challenge for all air forces is to remain relevant to contemporary operations and adaptive to changing strategic demands. The question of contemporary operations being ‘different’ from those of the past was posed, but seems unlikely. In the future, as in the past, the responsiveness and flexibility of air power, matched with New Zealand’s geo-strategic situation, will offer the nation useful options in the deliberation of security matters.

On a more practical note, the ACC summarised the need for Air to take some of the lessons forward as we look to action a number of initiatives in the current RNZAF Strategic Plan. Work towards the planned Joint AOC in HQJFNZ, a Tactical Agency Training Review, and the Review of Officer Training all need to be considered in light of contemporary operations and the need to develop better understanding of joint air warfare.

A record of the presentations from the seminar can be found on the APDC website (see announcements). The APDC team thank all those that attended the seminar, in particular, those that also presented. We look forward to activities of this nature being more common in the future as we look to develop our people as Airmen, purveyors of air power.