Strategic knowledge

Question 1

Describe Exercise Pacific Vanguard 20

Answer 1

Royal Australian Navy
Japan
The Republic of Korea
United States

Three days of warfare exercises, involving 1500 personnel, eight ships, a submarine and aircraft.

HMA Ships Stuart and Arunta

off the coast of Guam as part of the Navy’s Regional Presence Deployment through the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

participating navies to continue to refine their skills operating as an integrated force ready to respond to a changing and complex maritime environment in the region

“Promoting greater levels of military cooperation among participating navies allows for increased coordination, understanding and communication when exercising and operating together.”

Question 2

Describe RIMPAC 20

Answer 2

The theme of RIMPAC 2020 is ‘Capable, Adaptive, Partners’

Strengthen international maritime partnerships

Enhance interoperability

Improve the readiness of participating forces for a wide range of potential operations.

Hawaii and off the coast of California

RIMPAC 2020 will include 22 ships and 5300 personnel from 10 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Republic of the Philippines, Singapore and the United States.

HMA Ships Hobart, Stuart, Arunta and Sirius will take part in RIMPAC 2020.

Question 3

Describe Exercise Malabar

Answer 3

Following an invitation from India, Australia will participate in Exercise MALABAR 2020.

The exercise will bring together four key regional defence partners India, the United States, Japan and Australia in November 2020. (The QUAD)

“It will bolster the ability of India, Australia, Japan and the United States to work together to uphold peace and stability across our region.” - Senator the Hon Marise Payne

Question 4

Describe Sea Control

Answer 4

The condition that allows one’s own
forces freedom of action to use the sea
for its own purposes and to deny the use
of the sea to an enemy

Question 5

Describe Sea Denial

Answer 5

A corollary to and the
condition short of sea control that
prevents an enemy from using the sea
for their own purposes. Historically, this
strategy has normally been pursued by
Sea denial prevents an enemy from using the
sea for their own purposes.

Question 6

Describe the term ‘Sea lines of

communications’ (SLOC)

Answer 6

A term describing the primary maritime routes between ports, used for trade, logistics and naval forces. It is generally used in reference to naval operations to ensure that SLOCs are open, or in times of war, to close them.

Question 7

Discuss the challenges of the Maritime Environment

Answer 7

Environmental Hazards:
Wind
sea state
visibility
precipitation
air and sea temperature
ice accretion
clouds 
cyclones
humidity
electromagnetic ducting
turbidity 
and so on

Operational Effect 1:
Influence sensor and weapon
performance and, in some cases, the
ability to operate at all.

Human Impact:
Impact on human behavior as well
as that of systems, including the ability
to concentrate, calculate, focus, react
spontaneously and co-ordinate one’s own
actions. Motion sickness, for example,
diminishes job performance dramatically.
Exhaustion from heat or cold, or exposure
to constant motion and noise is likewise
fatiguing. 

Operational Effect 2:
Navigation hazards:
water depth, beach incline, sea bed
composition and topography.