Personal Statements by the Chiefs of Air Forces

摘要

As the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) approaches its centenary in 2021, it continues to operate in an environment of increasing complexity and uncertainty. The emergence of critical new capabilities and technologies will shape the way the RAAF does business in the information age. Like NATO members we are adapting to an era of multiple, complex often aggregated threats. The optimism of the immediate post Cold War era- that the likelihood of major state on state conventional warfare had receded to insignificance- has been overtaken by rising strategic uncertainty. The Middle East is beset by civil wars, major power tensions, and hybrid threats. The same can be said of Africa. NATO nations have been obliged to deploy air power to contingencies in these regions in recent years. While primarily a regional power Australia has operated along side our NATO partners in Afghanistan and the US is our most significant security partner. We have learnt much from these partnerships and a responding to similar concerns. Like all of you we are operating in an era of complex threats while conforming to an age of fiscal austerity.