Hope is not a task verb. Yet we seem to being ‘hoping’ the Australian Defence Force won’t require Integrated Air and Missile Defence soon ⬇️
The air and missile defence capabilities of the Army, Navy and Air Force are those of a boutique force built for wars of choice in the unipolar moment. Don’t take
The noise around Australia’s investment in Defence and National Security is growing. For how long can we continue with a strategy of (self) denial?
The media’s interest in the current state of Australia’s Defence seems to be growing ahead of meeting between a re-elected President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese on the sidelines of
Ukraine has used the small, the smart and the many to damage or destroy Russian high value targets that cannot easily be replaced. ⬇️
Operation Spiderweb was a combination of classic spycraft and special operations and once again demonstrated the utility of drones to render exquisite platforms vulnerable. It was a high low mix
The proliferation of fibre optic drones in Ukraine gives a great glimpse of what we need to be ready for in large scale combat operations. ⬇️
No doubt you’ve heard of first person view (FPV) drones – small, cheap and fast drones controlled remotely by a pilot flying from real time vision. These were everywhere –
If the US and allies are to compete in the Indo Pacific, the quantity and quality of the combined naval fleets will matter. ⬇️
RAND has an interesting read calling for the US to partner with the leading democratic shipbuilders in Japan and South Korea to scale the force in being. The article mentions
While the focus has been on first person view drones, long-range low-cost drones like the Shahed continue to cause widespread destruction. ⬇️
Using lessons learned in combat, Russia has evolved Iran’s Shahed into a domestically manufactured Geran-2. Russia has scaled manufacturing of the Geran-2 and is waging what Center for Strategic and
The Sovereign Resilience Tour is Underway
Beaten Zone Venture Partners is launching the Sovereign Resilience Tour, led by Steve Baxter, a seasoned Defence investor and former Army soldier. This tour is designed to engage key regional
In WWII the Arsenal of Democracy built thousands of Liberty ships. Australia’s shipyards played our part – but here the priority was to repair. ⬇️
Those of you who have read Arthur Herman’s masterclass ‘Freedom’s Forge’ may recall the legend of Henry Kaiser who managed to disrupt the entire shipbuilding industry during WWII. Herman’s latest
Yesterday’s weapons will not win tomorrow’s wars. Are we learning the lessons of contemporary conflict? ⬇️
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has just released a new report and infographic article on ‘Conflict in Focus: Lessons from Russia-Ukraine’. There are lessons identified across each warfighting
The US Army has been given orders to Transform to ensure it is ready to defeat any adversary on a ever changing battlefield. ⬇️
DefenseScoop is reporting on the Trump administration ordering substantial changes to the US Army to ensure the service is better placed for the worsening geopolitical circumstances across numerous theatres: “Defense
How dependent are we on our competitors to supply our consumables of combat? ⬇️
Forbes has must read article on the reliance of US drone manufacturers on Chinese supplied parts. It is an open secret that Western nations have deep dependencies on Chinese suppliers
With Australia’s first HIMARS launchers being delivered last month it is timely to consider how long our stocks of missiles would last… ⬇️
Foreign Affairs Magazine has an insightful but challenging article ‘The Empty Arsenal of Democracy’ that really brings home the challenge of the downsized military industrial base of the West: “The
How should Australia respond to the new world disorder? ⬇️
Recently former Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull convened a ‘Sovereignty and Security‘ forum, bringing together around a hundred National Security and Defence experts including Beaten Zone Venture Partners advisor Mick Ryan,
TAKHACK 2025: When Defence Innovation Goes Hands-On
Beaten Zone Venture Partners is proud to launch TAKHACK 2025, a tactical innovation hackathon that will bring together technologists, veterans, creatives, and industry professionals to tackle real-world challenges using the ATAK/CivTAK
For too long Australia and the West assumed that our qualitative edge would overcome any quantitative advantage of our opponents. ⬇️
As Ukraine has shown, large scale war is not won by qualitative advantage. Russia has been able to meet and beat the West’s weapons through relentless innovation and adaption. Likewise
It’s all about Air Power with the Avalon Air Show this week ⬇️
There will be some exquisite capability on show and there is no doubt our Air Force can make a substantial contribution should competition give way to conflict. But as Malcolm
Beaten Zone Ventures Backs Arkeus in AU$5 million Raise to Supercharge Australia’s Defence AI
Australia’s defence future is being built today, and Arkeus is leading the charge. Beaten Zone Ventures is proud to back Arkeus in its latest AU$5 million funding round, helping
After three years of the devastating war in Ukraine what lessons has the West learned? ⬇️
IM—1776 magazine has a thought provoking op-ed on three key lessons from the Ukraine War that is well worth a read: “Wars are easy to start but often difficult to
Poland, with a population of 38 million, is planning for an Army of 500,000. Now that’s future ready! ⬇️
Many of you would already be watching the Poles build the largest Land Force in Europe with interest. Poland is now spending 4.7% of GDP on Defence with plans to
Hard power is projected with energy and infrastructure. Critical infrastructure needs to be urgently hardened and energy supply assured. ⬇️
The Institute of Public Affairs and Strategic Analysis Australia have released the latest paper in their excellent ‘The Defence of Australia’ series. Paper 5 focuses fixing Defence Infrastructure and Energy