In this interview, strategist and defence analyst Dr. Peter Layton offers a clear-sighted assessment of how Australia is recalibrating strategy, capability, and partnerships amid intensifying regional competition. Drawing on policy and academic expertise, he probes alliance choices with the United States and Japan, AUKUS and submarine procurement, the Quad and ASEAN engagement, and the trade-offs between economic dependence on China and national security.
Content
- Alliances with the US and Japan: Security Gains or Strategic Constraints?
- Multilateralism in Australia’s Security Strategy
- AUKUS and the Future of Australian Defence
- Submarine Procurement: Strategic Rationale and Implications
- The Quad and Australia’s Security Role
- Making the Quad More Effective and Productive
- Security Cooperation with ASEAN: Opportunities and Limits
- Managing the Dual Relationship with China: Economics vs Security
- Assessing the 2024 National Defence Strategy and Middle-Power Vulnerabilities
- Military Spending: Balancing Capability and Sustainability
- Diversifying Australia’s Defence Supply Chains
- Under-Researched Dimensions of Australia’s Security
Peter Layton
Dr. Peter Layton is a Visiting Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University; an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI); and a Fellow of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group. With extensive experience in aviation and defence, he received the US Secretary of Defense’s Exceptional Public Service Medal for his work on force structure at the Pentagon. For his academic research, he was awarded a Fellowship at the European University Institute.
Peter’s research interests include grand strategy, national security policies particularly relating to middle powers, defence force structure concepts and the impacts of emerging technology.
Selected Publications:
Layton, P., 2025. Non-Western Airpower: Diverse, Dissimilar and Disruptive. The RUSI Journal 170, 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2024.2445818
Rossiter, A., Layton, P., 2024. Warfare in the robotics age, Studies in technology and security: innovation, impact, and governance. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc, Boulder, Colorado.
Layton, P., 2018. Grand Strategy. Peter Layton, Columbia, USA.
Layton, P., 2012. The Idea of Grand Strategy. The RUSI Journal 157, 56–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2012.714193
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