exclusive
ADF Chief of Joint Operations Justin Jones commits to new role, missiles on the cards for Christmas Island

Expert opinion suggests Australia is amid the most difficult set of military circumstances since World War II — and it will be critical to protect the north-west region of our wide brown land if push comes to shove. With that in mind, the biggest mobilisation of troops to WA’s north in decades recently embarked on a 17-day Kimberley mission for the Austral Shield exercises. About 400 full-time or Reserve personnel experienced various scenarios to ensure our combat readiness. They included a fatal plane crash in remote bush, with armoured vehicles rushing from the base in Derby, medical teams escorting their “dead” comrades into vehicles while troops secured the plane. Others troops deployed were briefed on a potential ambush from enemies trying to identify and kidnap anyone of significance from the plane. The West Australian was given an inside look at the exercises, sleeping alongside diggers at RAAF Base Curtin for three nights in Derby. Other Australia Defence Force members were stationed in Darwin, Cairns and Christmas Island. Defence force Chief of Joint Operations Vice-Admiral Justin Jones said the exercise demonstrated how critical infrastructure could be protected if insurgents attacked Australia. Since July 5, Vice-Admiral Jones has been responsible for the planning and execution of Australia’s military operations around the world. He spoke exclusively to The West in Derby last week, outlining why Austral Shield offered a prime opportunity to test the effectiveness of supply chains to one of the “remote parts” of Australia if foreign powers tried to take over WA’s north. It comes after Government direction, as outlined in the 2024 Defence Strategic Review, called for a greater defensive focus on northern Australia. “It makes it clear that when we talk about a need for national resilience, we need to look to our northern critical infrastructure,” Vice-Admiral Jones said. “It’s not just defence, it’s actually national critical infrastructure such as ports, airports and critical nodes for communication. “This exercise this year has been designed to play into that environment.” The base is surrounded by critical infrastructure such as Derby airport — which became a command post for some units before they were ordered to various exercises reflecting fast-paced war scenarios. “It tells you about the length of the logistics challenge and supply chains that will go with sustaining forces up here for indeterminate periods, so by doing exercises like this, even though it’s only over a finite period, you get a sense of what the challenges are operating up here, particularly if we had to do it for a long period,” Vice-Admiral Jones said. “It (Austral Shield) shows us that it can be done, but we need to be clear-eyed about the challenges that would be associated with having to do it over a longer period of time — think six, nine or even 12 months sustained.” “Small snapshots over two weeks enable us to model what would be required to do it over time — I don’t think this tells us it can’t be done. I think it tells us how it will be done.” Vice-Admiral Jones re-affirmed the sentiment outlined in the 2024 national defence strategy, which suggested Australia was in the most difficult set of military circumstances since WWII. And he confirmed recruitment was a major issue. “The challenge will always be people, (it’s) the No.1 issue,” he said. “We’ll always have a mission, we will never not have a mission to do, but we can’t do it without people. “There’s a lot of press and talk around recruiting, recruitment and retention in the ADF. I am not distant to that because I live in a world that executes operations — I’ve got to keep that foremost in mind as well and make sure that our people come first within the bounds of our mission we have to achieve. “The Government has made clear that the ADF is on an expansion over the next 10 years, and the funding profile is such that we are to grow, and we need to grow. “But we prove every day in Joint Operations Command that we can achieve what we need to achieve with what we have, but it’s always better to have more.” Vice-Admiral Jones says he is “very well prepared” for the role after having previously been the commander of Operation Sovereign Borders. He has been deployed to the Indo-Pacific region 13 times and the Middle East four times. “I don’t doubt the challenges — I wouldn’t want to appear flippant, but I’ve had a very good grounding,” he said. “We are a middle-power nation with a pretty modest defence force, but we do exceptionally well with achieving what the government wants us to achieve across the globe.” The joint task force leader of the exercise on Christmas Island, navy Commodore Peter Leavy, said mobilising missiles to the territory was likely for future exercises to prepare for a “worst-case scenario”. “Ultimately we want to be able to set up and test our portable radar and missile systems from here — not to be here permanently — but show that we have the ability,“ he said. “We need to be mindful that we are beneficial to the Islanders up here and that we are not impacting them with too many people and draining resources usually for the locals. Commodore Leavy said the island’s “rugged and tough” terrain had been “eye-opening” for US counterparts who visited the island. Army, navy, Defence Space Command, and a member of the US Army visited the island for Austral Shield. Usually, there are only two personnel are deployed to the island. “It’s a really critical piece of territory for our surveillance networks and our ability to project power,” Commodore Leavy said.

exclusive
ADF Chief of Joint Operations Justin Jones commits to new role, missiles on the cards for Christmas Island

The No. 1 source of news for every West Australian

Subscribe

Subscribe

The West Australian exclusiveADF Chief of Joint Operations Justin Jones commits to new role, missiles on the cards for Christmas Island

The No. 1 source of news for every West Australian

Subscribe

Subscribe

exclusive
ADF Chief of Joint Operations Justin Jones commits to new role, missiles on the cards for Christmas Island