Almost 1000 defence force personnel will be shifted from southern to northern Australia in the biggest army overhaul in more than a decade, a move designed to prepare the nation’s military for a possible conflict in nearby Indo-Pacific islands.
The Albanese government will on Thursday also announce the creation of a new army brigade focused on long-range strike and missile defence and to be based in Adelaide, which is otherwise the major loser in the restructure.
Army personnel will be shifted from southern to northern Australia in the biggest overhaul since 2011.
Three new “littoral lift” groups, designed to transport weapons and personnel from ocean to land, will be created in Queensland and the Northern Territory, reflecting the defence strategic review’s finding that the army must focus on amphibious operations in Australia’s immediate region rather than land wars in the Middle East.
The defence strategic review, released in April, found the defence force was no longer “fit for purpose” and singled out the army as the military branch most in need of transformation to confront rising geostrategic tensions between the United States and China in Indo-Pacific.
Under the changes, about 800 troops are expected to move from Adelaide to Brisbane, Townsville and Darwin as tanks, armoured personnel carriers and full-time infantry are withdrawn from the South Australian capital.
Townsville, the big winner from the overhaul, will welcome up to 500 more troops, thanks to the consolidation of tanks, combat reconnaissance vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles and army helicopters in North Queensland.
The army is structured with broadly similar combat brigades, designed to allow troops to be rotated out of Middle Eastern war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Australian Defence Force already faces a major recruitment and retention crisis as it seeks to grow the number of uniformed troops by 18,500 by 2040, so the changes could further strain the military’s ability to attract and retrain staff.
Defence has previously struggled to convince military personnel to live in cities such as Darwin rather than Adelaide.
Defence Minister Richard Marles acknowledged the restructure – the most significant since 2011 – involved “hard decisions”, but said they were necessary to build an army fit for modern needs.
“These changes to [the] army are about responding to the recommendations of the Defence Strategic Review to maintain peace, security and prosperity in our region,” Marles said.
“Our army has always played a vital role in the defence of our nation and will continue to do so as it adapts to the challenges of our times.
“This will mean [the] army has a concentration of people and capabilities in Australia’s north, making it easier to deploy for training, major exercises or to support our partners and allies in the region.”
The strategic review by former defence force chief Angus Houston and former defence minister Stephen Smith said that “great power competition in our region has the potential to threaten our interests, including the potential for conflict” and name-checked China as Australia’s biggest strategic threat.
“China’s assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea threatens the global rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific in a way that adversely impacts Australia’s national interests,” the reviewers said.
The government is considering options to expand and accelerate the army’s supply of medium and heavy amphibious vessels, another key recommendation of the strategic review.
Senior defence sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that troops would not be shifted out of Adelaide “en masse” and the staged relocation process will begin in 2025.
To minimise the impact of the changes on soldiers and their families, the army will not move personnel between regions outside of normal posting cycles.
The revival of the 10th brigade – which served a key role in World War One before being disbanded in 1942 – in Adelaide will see troop numbers there eventually rise again, in line with the arrival of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from the United States.
The army’s presence elsewhere in the country, including Victoria and NSW, will be largely unaffected by the changes.
The government announced in April that it would slash a planned order of tank-like infantry fighting vehicles for the army from 450 to just one battalion of 129 to free up funds for other priorities.
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