Naval Reserve to support RAN to expand future workforce

The Naval Reserve is set to increase its support to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to help it ‘fight and win at sea’ as the navy continues to develop the structures needed to grow its future workforce.

Plans are currently underway to integrate the part-time and full-time elements of the navy in order to meet its current and future requirements.

The Naval Reserve is noted to play a major role in supporting the RAN’s maritime capability during operations across the maritime environment, thereby directly improving Australia’s national security.

Australian Naval Cadets and Reserves director general commodore Mark Hill said: “Today, the reserve is increasingly being called upon to fill current and future capability shortfalls in navy’s workforce.

“Members of the reserve are hard at work in raise, train and sustain activities, as well as operations.

“These members provide service in a diverse range of officer and sailor categories that are vital to the success of the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) mission.”

Hill further stated that the Naval Reserve helps generate and sustain the RAN’s future deployable health and joint cyber-warfare capabilities.

Hill added: “These types of opportunities are becoming more common in the changing global environment.

“Employing reserve members to fill specialist roles is a cost-effective way of importing civilian expertise, rather than replicating expensive training pipelines.”

According to Hill, the navy’s strategic depth and warfighting capability can be enhanced by increasing its ability to call upon all components of the workforce.

The RAN intends to attain a fully integrated Naval Reserve workforce that is more capable of supporting the service’s current and forecast capability requirements.