Nevertheless, the tide of the conflict was rapidly turning against Australia. The lead elements of the Joint Task Force had achieved the immediate physical objective. One pair of F-35s had destroyed the enemyвЂ™s covert strike platform with a salvo of anti-ship missiles, but not before the two helicopters had slipped away flying undetected along the wave tops. The missiles had been launched from a modified cargo ship, well beyond the horizon. The destroyer had managed to defend against the others. Long after securing the beachhead, the soldiers learnt the explosions they had witnessed on the horizon had come from four anti-ship missiles, one of which hit the frigate causing significant casualties and damage. The scream of the jetвЂ™s engines faded as it sped out of sight. First one helicopter erupted in a fireball and then the second spiralled smoking out of the air. An F-35 came in low and fast, the exact position of friendly forces known by the secure transmission of GPS established coordinates through the battle management system. вЂCAS is on its way!вЂ™ she tried to shout over the noise of battle. The Joint Terminal Air Controller spoke calmly but loudly into her handset while the helicopters were circling low over the beach, lining up for a second pass. Ineffective small arms fire lashed through the air in the general direction of the enemy helicopters. The lead boat was hit, soldiers were overboard and bobbing wounded in the surf break. Members of the recon platoon scanned the horizon through their night vision goggles no one saw the pair of attack helicopters until they had opened fire. Thirteen seconds later the sound of distant explosions reached him, before being replaced by the thrum of helicopter rotors. The platoon commander thought he could make out the silhouette of a shipвЂ™s bridge low on the horizon. The lead boat was almost in the surf break when the north-western horizon lit up like the first rays of dawn light. The jets had been queued in response to a potential threat to the ships, but could be called on by the reconnaissance platoon for close air support if the need arose. None of this gave the soldiers being jolted about in the rough chop as much comfort as knowing two pairs of Joint Strike Fighters would be on station in exactly two minutes. Maritime Patrol Aircraft had been committed elsewhere. Somewhere to their north a submarine, Triton UAV and second frigate were working a coordinated patrol pattern screening the northern approaches to Objective Monash. Reconnaissance elements of the 2nd Battalion disembarked from HMAS CanberraВ in darkness, the vulnerability of their small boats counterbalanced by the guns of the distant destroyer and frigate. General Sir David Richards False Strike: A very short war story Future war will always include a cyber dimensionВ and it could become the dominant form. We must learn to defend, delay, attack and manoeuvre in cyberspace, just as we might on the land, sea or air and all together at the same time.

CYBER Blue