Strike from the air: The first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL

This report is the first publication from a continuing, open-source study of the coalition campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). With Australian blood and treasure committed to the efforts of the coalition, it is important for ASPI to provide research and constructive commentary on the campaign. The report examines:

  • coalition strategy in Iraq and Syria
  • ISIL’s evolution and its military actions in 2014
  • developing the international coalition against ISIL
  • the first 100 days of airstrikes
  • the cost of operations against ISIL
  • the land force advise and assist mission
  • ISIL and international terrorism

The report’s airstrikes database (Google Sheets file) collates all the strike information reported by US Central Command at the time of writing. So far as we can tell, this database is the most accurate open-source collation of information on coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria to date.

ASPI has also specially commissioned the following series of maps based on this research effort that illustrates the airstrike campaign and the contest for territory in Iraq and Syria:

ASPI’s research team will continue to study and assess the campaign against ISIL as long as the campaign affects the future of Australian strategic policy. We expect to publish future reports and analysis that will be timely and relevant to the strategic discourse in Australia.

Transport Fuels from Australia’s Gas Resources

The transport sector in Australia depends heavily on imported oil-based fuels. With this comes the ever-present risk of oil supply shortages. But Australia is gas-rich and oil-poor, so it makes practical sense to assess how our own gas resources can be used to produce these fuels.

Natural gas can be used directly as a fuel, blended with diesel in modified diesel engines, and converted into a conventional liquid fuel – all at a modest cost. This book, written by Australia’s leading experts in the field, demonstrates how using natural gas as a transport fuel could increase our fuel self-sufficiency to 50–70 per cent by 2030. And with three-quarters of our freight being moved by road, it’s clear that these developments will have major benefits for Australian transport efficiency.

Order a copy from New South Books. 

Preserving the knowledge edge: Surveillance cooperation and the US–Australia alliance in Asia

The US–Australia alliance is the bedrock of Australia’s defence policy. Successive governments have looked to the alliance for access to military technology, intelligence and training, as well as a promise of support against direct threats to Australia.

However, Australia, the US and other regional allies today face a rapidly changing strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific. The American ‘rebalance’ to Asia represents recognition by the US that it needs to give greater priority to its management of the changing balance—an effort firmly endorsed by President Obama in his address at theUniversity of Queensland.

Acting alone, Australia couldn’t possibly achieve the level of awareness that the evolving strategic environment demands. In alliance, it has the resources to ‘fill the gaps’ that remain in the US’s coverage of the region. This is why the C4ISR relationship with the US in the Indo-Pacific provides such a critical benefit to both members in the alliance. US–Australian C4ISR cooperation will be essential to the success of the US rebalance, but also to Australia’s own immediate security in a strategic environment in which more and more countries operate high-technology platforms that once used to be the preserve of Australia and its allies.