USI of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Inc.

The aim of the USI of the ACT is to promote informed debate, and to improve public awareness and understanding of defence and national security Membership is open to all who have an interest in defence and national security. To this end, the USI holds a regular program of meetings and seminars, usually twice a month. Our current speaker program can be found at "What's On", and a record of previous presentations can be found under "Transcripts"

RECENT Events at USI of ACT

On 21 March 2012, a distinguished panel: AVM Peter Nicholson AO, VADM Russ Crane AO CSM RAN (Retd),MAJGEN Michael Crane DSC AM.  Mr Neil James. Mrs Julie Blackburn. Dr Andrew Davies, discussed the Government's Review of Force Posture.

(Photos courtesy Kokoda, Defence, ADA, DFA, ASPI)

The Proceedings of the Panel will be made available on this website soon. Please watch here for details.

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On 2 May 2012, AIRCDRE Roy McPhaiI Director General - Aerospace Combat Systems spoke on:

'Update on New Air Combat Capability Program’

The New Air Combat Capability (NACC) Project Office is responsible for delivering a new air combat capability which will replacing that provided by F/A–18 aircraft and the capability provided by the now retired F–111. Australia joined the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program in October 2002 as one of eight international partners to the USA. The presentation concentrated on the broader JSF Program and its progress to date and will discuss the efforts of the NACC Project Office to introduce into service the tremendous capability that the F–35 will bring to Australia. The presentation was to have been given by AVM Osley who is now unable to present personally due to duty overseas. This presentation provides an update on the development of Australia's new air combat capability will be of much interest to the Defence and National Security community. (Photo courtesy Dept of Defence)

 

You can download the presentation (a large three part file): click here for Part 1, click here for Part 2, click here for Part 3.

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On 16 May 2012, Dr Bob Hall, Research Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Scinces at UNSW at ADFA, spoke on:

'Operational Analysis of 1st Australian Task Force in Phuoc Tuy Province South Vietnam 1966-1971 - an Overview'

Mr Bob Hall graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1968. He served in Vietnam as an infantry platoon commander in the 8th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. After further military service in Papua New Guinea, HQ 1st Division and Army Headquarters, Canberra, he left the Army in 1991 to pursue an academic career. His army career spanned over 20 years. He was formerly the Executive Director of the Australian Defence Studies Centre, UNSW@ADFA until 2003. In 2005 Bob was awarded a QEII Fellowship and an ARC research grant for a five-year project titled "Understanding Low-Intensity Conflict". Bob leads a research team of Dr Andrew Ross (HASS), Dr Amy Griffin (PEMS), Dr Michael (Spike) Barlow, and Mr Derrill de Heer in the project, which examines the operational effectiveness of the Australian army in Vietnam and Confrontation. His research imterests are: the Australian army's role and performance in Vietnam and Confrontation, the Vietnam Wa, Confrontation and Combat effectiveness. (Photo Courtesy UNSW)

A copy of the presentation can be downloaded here.

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President's Message

The Council of the USI ACT meets every two months, and at its March meeting confirmed 29 August as the evening for the popular Annual Dinner. We are pleased that Thales has again agreed to sponsor the dinner, which will allow us to finance a fantastic night at a reasonable cost to members. The Secretary of the Dpeartment of Defence, Mr Duncan Lewis AO, DSC, CSC has agreed to be our speaker. I have recently sent out invitations to the three Canberra based universities with national security and defence schools inviting them to nominate a worth PhD student to be considered to our 2012 Leo Francis Mahony scholarship. I hope to be able to join Mrs. Judith Mahony in presenting the award at the Annual Dinner. The PhD scholarship is a very positive contribution the USI ACT makes each year to furthering the debate on defence and national security issues, and recognizes the life time contribution Leo Mahony made to the USI ACT and to the RUSI of Australia.

I am also pleased to note that one of our supporters, Canberra based CEA Technologies Pty Ltd, has received funding from the Government as part of a program to help Australian industry to commercialise new defence technologies that will contribute to Australia's Priority Industry Capabilities in the defence sector. Specifically, CEA's project is to transition CEAFAR Active Phased Array technology from the Maritime to the Land environment and establish a Multi Mission Radar hardware platform that is able to support: Air-Surveillance, Air Traffic Control, Weapon Location and Ground Based Air Defence. Congratulations to CEA, and good luck in achieving your goal.

I hope to see you at a presentation soon,

John Kentish CSM
President USI ACT

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Sponsorship of the USI of ACT

We are grateful to receive from the Department of Defence: support-in-kind, use of facilities, access to officials and an annual grant-in-aid to continue our work in supporting the Defence Mission.

The USI of the ACT also gratefully receives commercial sponsorship from companies active in the ACT.

The Annual Dinner is sponsored by Thales Australia. Thales is one of Australia's largest defence partners, a major provider of air traffic management systems in the Asia-Pacific region, and a growing force in the commercial sector. Thales' website can be found here - Thales Australia

Events at the ADC Mess are sponsored by CEA Technologies. Founded in 1983, CEA Technologies specialises in the design, development and manufacture of advanced radar and communications solutions for civil and military applications.

CEA's website can be found here at CEA Technologies.

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Brief History

On 28 April 1971, a meeting of 30 serving military personnel and academics was held at the Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT at the initiative of Dr Robert O'Neill, Head, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University. The meeting agreed to form an ACT branch of the then United Services Institute of Australia with the title “The United Service Institution of the Australian Capital Territory”. A second meeting held at RMC on 25 May 1971 determined membership aspects for the new chapter and on 7 July 1971, the Founding General Meeting of the USI of ACT was held, again at RMC. In July 1972, a Constitution for the USI of the ACT was agreed with the aim of the organisation being “to further the study of strategy, national defence and related matters”. On 1 September 1972, The United Service Institution of the Australian Capital Territory Incorporated was incorporated under the ACT Associations Incorporation Ordinance, 1953-1966. On 8 December 2005, the USI of the ACT was re-named “The United Services Institute of the Australian Capital Territory Incorporated” under the ACT Associations Incorporation Act, 1991. The Constitution was last updated at the AGM in 2010.

Organisation

The USI of the ACT, Inc. is an incorporated association under the ACT Associations Incorporations Act 1991 and is a constituent body of the Royal United Services Institute of Australia (RUSI). The USI of the ACT is a non-profit organisation which has been allocated Australian Business Number (ABN) 69 739 962 119 and is registered with the Australian Tax Office as a charitable institution, endorsed to access the following tax concessions:

• Income Tax Exemption under Subdivision 50-B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997,
• GST Concessions under Division 176 of A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, and
• FBT Rebate under Section 123E of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986.

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