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By Lieutenant Commander John Thompson and Captain Cody Tsaousis

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The Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston, was full of admiration when he visited Australian troops training Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) personnel in the United Kingdom last month.

“Coming to the UK and seeing the strength of our international partnerships in operation is a reminder of the important contribution of ADF members in helping defend the rules-based order and keeping us all secure,” Admiral Johnston said.

Admiral Johnston told the troops it was a privilege to visit them.

“Your mission here is vital. Even in my short time, I can see the value that you are making – the hard work you have been putting in to help develop the capacity of our Ukrainian partners,” he said.

“Australia is proud of what you’re doing – we are, as a nation, committed to supporting Ukraine’s defence and its ability to end the conflict on its own terms.”

Since January 2023, Australian personnel have trained more than 2000 AFU personnel, part of the more than 45,000 who have been trained since the wider UK-led mission, Operation Interflex, started in June 2022.

Interflex Commanding Officer Colonel Andy Boardman said Australia’s contribution to the international mission had been exceptional.

“The Australian contingent is a really valued part of the mission,” Colonel Boardman said.

“Op Kudu troops come here with a huge amount of experience from the Australian Army and they bring that into our multinational context.

“We really appreciate Admiral Johnston taking the time to visit us in his busy program – it’s an opportunity to demonstrate to him just how much Australia is valued as a partner.”

The continual rotation of ADF personnel was expanded in January this year to include a junior leadership training program.

Among the AFU members who expressed gratitude to the ADF was lawyer Mikhailo, who was undergoing leadership training.

“It’s been great working with the Australians. It’s really important for us that we’re not alone in this fight, so we appreciate their dedication, effort and the respect that they show us – it is amazing,” he said.

Commanding Officer of Operation Kudu, Major Ben Carolan, said his troops were learning a lot from those they trained.

“There are combat veterans that we are training here,” Major Carolan said.

“It is the closest thing we have in the Army right now to what is a conventional war. The lessons we learn from this experience improve our ability to train and prepare for a future conflict.

“Leading Op Kudu has been one of the highlights of my career – it is easy to find purpose for and has real world impact.”

Australia has provided more than $1.1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, including air defence missiles and air-to-ground munitions, Bushmaster vehicles, M113 armoured vehicles, M777 howitzers, drones and drone systems.

Veterans and families can access support from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) when they need it, in a way that works for them – whether in person, online or by phone.

Visit a support location

There are 19 Veterans’ Access Network (VAN) offices across the country that provide a first point of contact for veterans and families. VAN Officers can provide advice and access to services and support.

Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs deliver integrated support to veterans and families and improve access to local services, which may include wellbeing support, advocacy, employment and housing advice, social connection, and physical and mental health services.

The network is being expanded to provide additional support to complement the established hubs in Nowra, Wodonga, Darwin, Perth, Townsville, Tasmania and Caboolture.

Health and wellbeing

DVA’s Community Support team help ex-service organisations across Australia who deliver a range of programs to support and improve the health of veterans and families in local areas.

Open Arms provides free and confidential mental health and wellbeing support to anyone who has at least one day of continuous fulltime service in the ADF and their immediate families.

Open Arms services are available in 30 metro and regional locations across Australia. You can also phone the 24/7 Open Arms support line – 1800 011 046.

Online

MyService is an online claims processing portal which allows current or former serving ADF members and their families to:

• request a call back to discuss support
• access free mental health treatment
• claim for a condition related to service
• view DVA health card
• view accepted conditions
• manage personal details, and
• find health services.

Current or former serving ADF member can register for MyService through myGov.

By phone

DVA is available by phone between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372).

On-base support

Veteran Support Officers are located on Defence bases to provide personalised support and education to current serving members ADF and their families about their potential eligibility to access DVA benefits and entitlements.

Rural and regional support

Support can be accessed from other outreach services, such as those delivered through the Standardised Service Offer (SSO) with Services Australia, which aims to provide consistent support to veterans and their families, particularly in regional and rural locations, that visit a Services Australia Service Centre.

Four Services Australia Mobile Service Centres also provide support in rural and regional areas, and travel to new locations each month.

We’re here when you need us
For more information on support services available near you, visit www.dva.gov.au/get-support.

Sydney-based Thomas Global Systems has won a multi-year contract to supply advanced immersive training systems for the AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to Hanwha Defence Australia. The deal will provide the Australian Army with cutting-edge infantry vehicle training solutions.

Thomas Global’s IFV Trainers (IFV-Ts) will be based on its advanced immersive tactical training system. The design phase is already underway, with production slated for 2026–27 and deliveries planned for 2028. The systems will be produced at Thomas Global’s Newington, NSW facility, working with various Australian supply chain partners, including those in regional areas.

Michael Hall, vice president of simulation and training solutions at Thomas Global, expressed pride in the collaboration with Hanwha Defence Australia, stating, “This contract highlights our world-class simulation capabilities and showcases Australian industry’s ability to deliver sovereign defence solutions.”

The IFV-Ts are key to training the crews of the AS21 Redback, including commanders, gunners, and drivers, as well as infantry team leaders. The trainers offer high-fidelity immersive experiences and are networked for collective manoeuvre training.

This contract strengthens Thomas Global’s 20-year history in military training and simulation, positioning the company to deliver systems for all of the Australian Army’s new armoured vehicle platforms. It also enhances local manufacturing and design capabilities within Australia.

The Redback IFV, developed for the Australian Army as part of LAND 400 Phase 3, is a next-generation vehicle equipped with advanced sensor technologies. The army will receive 129 Redback IFVs starting in 2027.

Thomas Global Systems, founded in 1956, is renowned for its innovative solutions in avionics, mission electronics, and defence training systems.

Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft have been sent to the Middle East as part of Operation Beech, in a precautionary move by the federal government. The deployment includes RAAF C-130J Hercules transport aircraft and personnel, all assigned to a non-combat role.

The primary goal of this operation is to assist with contingency planning and potential evacuations of Australian citizens and approved foreign nationals from the region, should the security situation worsen. By sending these resources, the Australian government has ensured additional capabilities to support its citizens during times of crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, highlighted the security risks faced by Australians in areas like Lebanon during a television interview on ABC’s Insiders program on 6 October. He pointed out that while Beirut’s airport remains operational, strikes have occurred in nearby areas, increasing the urgency for Australians to leave.

“In the past 24 hours, we’ve facilitated the departure of over 400 people, primarily Australians, on flights from Beirut to Cyprus. This brings the total to more than 450 evacuated over the last week,” Marles said. He also emphasized ongoing arrangements with Qatar Airways and Qantas to transport Australians from Cyprus back home.

Marles stressed the importance of seizing the current window to leave, warning that the situation in Lebanon could deteriorate further. “We have around 3,600 Australians registered with our embassy in Beirut, all seeking some form of assisted departure. We will continue to offer these opportunities, but people must take them as they come.”

To bolster evacuation efforts, Australia has deployed additional military assets, including C-130 Hercules aircraft and a C-17, which are stationed in Cyprus. ADF personnel are also on the ground, prepared to assist should the need arise.

Australians in the Middle East who require government support are urged to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) via its Crisis Portal or contact the 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre. DFAT will continue to provide updates to registered individuals as the situation develops.

David Axe -Forbes Staff

 Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine received a surprise gift on Saturday when a rare Russian air force Okhotnik stealth drone fell out of the sky over the fortress town of Chasiv Yar.

There are just a handful of the 65-foot-wingspan, jet-powered drones in existence. Now one of them—or its wreckage, at least—is in Ukrainian and allied hands. “They will disassemble it down to the last screw and, of course, familiarize themselves with its rich internal contents,” moaned Fighter-bomber, the unofficial Telegram channel of the Russian air force.

It’s not clear what happened to bring down the radar-evading drone. Video shot from the ground apparently depicts a warplane firing a missile at the arrow-shaped Okhotnik, sending it tumbling to the ground.

Was the shooter a Ukrainian fighter? Or was it a Russian fighter? The former might seem more likely, but the latter isn’t inconceivable. If the Okhotnik malfunctioned, the Russians may have opted to shoot it down rather than risk it crash-landing mostly intact inside Ukrainian lines.

“I really want to hope that it was a loss of control due to something failing … or the UAV’s brains went crazy for their own reasons, and not the drone being intercepted by the enemy,” Fighterbomber wrote.

One strong possibility is that the Okhotnik ran afoul of the heavy radio jamming along that sector of the 700-mile front line. The drone likely lacks full autonomy, and instead depends on a steady connection to operators on the ground. That’s a design detail Ukrainian and allied analysts can now confirm as they inspect the Okhotnik’s remains.

It’s an embarrassing loss for the battered Russian air force, which has written off more than 100 warplanes—including at least one Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter—to Ukrainian guns, missiles and drones.

The first blurry images of the Okhotnik drone appeared in January 2019 on a Russian aviation website. The photos depicted a tractor towing the apparently 11-ton unmanned aerial vehicle along a snow-ringed runway at an airfield in Novosibirsk in southern Russia.

A flying wing similar in shape to the U.S. Air Force’s Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bomber, Okhotnik—that means “hunter” in Russian—could, in theory, penetrate enemy defenses to deliver ordnance. Okhotnik is in the same class as China’s Tian Ying drone and the USAF’s Lockheed Martin RQ-170 surveillance UAV.

The likelihood of Okhotnik eventually entering squadron service with the Russian air force is “big,” said Tom Cooper, an independent expert on Russian military aviation. But five years after its blurry debut, it’s not clear that Sukhoi has built enough Okhotniks—or conducted enough testing—to fully equip a front-line unit.

It might still be a developmental aircraft. While it’s not uncommon for the Russian air force to deploy test planes to combat zones in order to collect data in a real-world context, it’s a huge setback to a development effort to lose a rare and expensive test plane during combat trials.

By: Arnaldo Liechtenstein, physician

Whenever I teach clinical medicine to students in the fourth year of medicine, I ask the following question:

What are the causes of mental confusion in the elderly?

Some offer: “Tumours in the head”. I answer: No!

Others suggest: “Early symptoms of Alzheimer’s”. I answer No!

With each rejection of their answers, their responses dry up.

And they are even more open-mouthed when I list the three most common causes:

– uncontrolled diabetes

– urinary infection

– dehydration

It may sound like a joke, but it isn’t. People over 60 generally stop feeling thirsty and consequently, stop drinking fluids.

When no one is around to remind them to drink fluids, they quickly dehydrate.

Dehydration is severe and affects the entire body It may cause abrupt mental confusion, a drop in blood pressure, increased heart palpitations, angina (chest pain), coma and even death.

*This habit of forgetting to drink fluids begins at age 60, when we have just over 50% of the water we should have in our bodies.

People over 60 have a lower water reserve.

This is part of the natural aging process.

But there are more complications. Although they are dehydrated, they don’t feel like drinking water, because their internal balance mechanisms don’t work very well.

People over 60 years old dehydrate easily, not only because they have a smaller water supply, but also, because they do not feel the lack of water in the body.

It’s important to drink several glasses of water daily.

Although people over 60 may look healthy, the performance of reactions and chemical functions can damage their entire body.

So here are two alerts:

1) *Get into the habit of drinking liquids*. Liquids include water, juices, teas, coconut water, milk, soups, and water-rich fruits, such as watermelon, melon, peaches and pineapple, orange and tangerine also work.

*The important thing is that every two hours, you must drink some liquid. Remember this! *

2) Alert for family members: constantly offer fluids to people over age 60.

At the same time, observe them.

If you realize that they are rejecting liquids and, from one day to the next, they are irritable, breathless or display a lack of attention,

these are almost certainly recurrent symptoms of dehydration.

Inspired to drink more water now.

A 20 year journey, ending in the Royal dedication of the bell of the great warship, recovered from her wreck in the Denmark Strait.

Behind the News

Anthony Albanese entered the 2022 election with a vision of an idealistic, collaborative “new politics” that aimed to unify Australians, positioning Labor for an extended period in government. However, even then, some commentators questioned the viability of this vision, and reality has since proven far more challenging.

Today, Labor and the Liberals are neck-and-neck in the polls, with the prospect of a minority government, or worse, for Labor. Prominent figures like Gareth Evans and Bill Kelty, once key players in the Hawke/Keating era, have severely criticized Albanese’s leadership. So, how did it all go wrong?

Much of the blame lies in the unrealistic expectations that formed part of Labor’s 2022 election strategy. Albanese’s “new politics” agenda promised a collaborative approach, bringing together business, labor, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This approach helped counter Scott Morrison’s divisive, populist strategy. But while it worked during the campaign, it has been much harder to deliver in government, as three key failures demonstrate.

1. Industrial Relations and Business Alienation

Albanese’s attempt to channel Bob Hawke’s strategy of uniting business and labor proved flawed. Unlike the Hawke government’s approach, which allowed businesses to offer lower wages while compensating workers with government-funded benefits, Albanese pledged to end wage stagnation and increase wages, especially for low-paid women workers. This move, although addressing deep-seated issues in enterprise bargaining, alienated key business groups. Criticism of Labor’s industrial relations reforms, including multi-employer bargaining and minimum wage increases, has been fierce, and the Liberals have aligned with business in opposition.

2. The Voice Referendum Failure

Labor’s attempt to unite Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians through the Voice referendum ended in failure. Dutton and other populist figures ran a strong campaign, depicting the Voice as an elitist initiative that gave special privileges to Indigenous Australians at the expense of others. This narrative resonated with many voters, and Labor struggled to counter it. After the defeat, Albanese retreated further from his original commitments, abandoning key initiatives like the Makarrata Commission and LGBTQI+ protections, disappointing progressive supporters.

3. International Affairs and Divisive Politics

The Albanese government’s efforts at fostering social cohesion have also been derailed by international events, particularly in the Middle East. Domestically, debate has become polarised, with Labor being attacked by the right for supposedly abandoning Israel, and by the left for being complicit in its alleged atrocities. This inability to maintain a coherent narrative has weakened the government’s position.

Narrative Failure and Leadership Criticism

As Labor’s vision of unity has faltered, so has its ability to craft a compelling narrative. Dutton’s simple and focused attacks have cut through, portraying Labor as weak and distracted by “woke” issues like the Voice, at the expense of tackling the cost-of-living crisis. His claims, while exaggerated, have gained traction.

Meanwhile, Albanese’s government has struggled to defend itself. It has pointed to relief measures like tax cuts, cheaper medicines, and reduced childcare costs. But inflation, high interest rates, and a housing crisis have largely overshadowed these efforts. Labor is also being squeezed between a hostile Coalition and Greens opposition, making it difficult to pass meaningful reforms.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has found it difficult to sell the government’s economic achievements, despite claiming that current spending has been necessary to stave off recession. The Reserve Bank has noted international factors driving inflation, but Labor remains the target of attacks accusing it of fuelling inflation through excessive spending.

Conclusion: The Failure of “New Politics”

Albanese promised a “new politics” that would unite Australians, but instead finds himself mired in divisive, populist battles that resemble the old politics he sought to transcend. Dutton’s portrayal of him as a weak leader, incapable of addressing the nation’s challenges, has stuck. This terrain, far from the idealistic vision Albanese presented, has left Labor struggling to deliver on its promises and maintain its grip on government.

Leith van Onselen

For a while, Australia was a great place to live and we had manufacturing, for example, as a substantial portion of the GDP of this country. We made cars, we made a bunch of different things. We had whole supply chains for various things. And then we just went into this path of just easy relentless growth where it was just house prices drifting up and shipping iron ore, coal, gas and gold overseas.

A year ago, Hamas launched an unprecedented and brutal cross-border raid into southern Israel, leading to one of the most significant escalations in the region’s recent history. This highly coordinated and violent attack saw Hamas militants infiltrating Israel via tunnels, by land, and by sea, targeting both military and civilian areas. The atrocities committed, including the rape of young Israeli women, shocked the world due to their brutality and the scale of the assault. The raid left 1,700 dead and many more injured, leaving an indelible scar on Israeli society.

Israel’s response to such aggression, including its continuing efforts to locate and rescue hostages taken by Hamas, is rooted in the natural duty of any nation to protect its people and sovereignty. The nature of the attack, which deliberately targeted civilians and soldiers alike, violated international norms, and spurred Israel’s retaliatory measures. Many hostages have already been murdered in captivity, further intensifying the crisis.

Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by many countries, including the United States and the European Union, aims to destabilize the region and eliminate the State of Israel. In light of such actions, Israel’s military response is seen as a defensive and necessary action to restore security and safeguard the lives of its citizens. The brutal nature of the attack left Israel with no choice but to respond forcefully to dismantle the threat posed by Hamas, while also working tirelessly to recover the prisoners still held in captivity.

This cycle of violence has placed Israel in a position where it must defend its population from future atrocities while also addressing the humanitarian crises that unfold from such prolonged conflicts. The ongoing efforts to locate hostages reflect the broader moral and ethical dimensions of this conflict, emphasizing the importance of human life amidst the horrors of war.