Annual Report 2004-05

Outcome One: Command of Operations

Map 4.1Major Australian Defence Force Operations during 2004-05

The Chief of the Defence Force commands the Australian Defence Force. The Vice Chief of the Defence Force, under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Force, is responsible for the day-to-day command of ADF operations, joint exercises and ADF contributions to national support tasks through the Joint Operations Command. Joint Operations Command was established in 2004 to provide simpler and more effective command and control arrangements. It consists of a headquarters with separate strategic and operational level staffs; three environmental components (maritime, land and air); three specialist components (Special Operations, Joint Logistics and Joint Offshore Protection commands); and a number of direct command units which provide functional support in the areas of intelligence, movements, joint training, strategic advice, welfare and northern Australia operations.

Defence continued to develop its command capability through the Headquarters Joint Operations Command and its component headquarters. Joint Operations Command successfully developed and implemented strategic plans and provided operational-level guidance to forces assigned under theatre command. Maritime, land and air forces continued to perform exceptionally well when combined to provide joint and coalition forces. Joint force preparedness requirements continued to be measured rigorously and were validated in exercise programs.

Within Headquarters Joint Operations Command, Strategic Operations Division continued to be primarily focused on strategic, international and whole-of-government level military operational issues. Principal amongst the Division's responsibilities was the provision of military strategic planning and operational advice to the Minister for Defence. The remainder of the Headquarters, including the component headquarters, remained focused on the planning and conduct of military operations and major joint exercises. Concurrently, the component headquarters continued to meet their dual responsibilities to Service Chiefs for raise, train and sustain functions, including the conduct of single Service exercises.

During 2004-05, Joint Logistics Command continued to provide logistic support to military operations with a renewed focus on supply chain support. Joint Logistics Command provided logistic support to four major operations and various minor operations and tasks. The deployment of equipment and personnel resulted in over 23,000 standard demands for the issue, repair or maintenance of stores being raised and satisfied, with 14,600 of these for forces deployed to the Middle East. Within Australia, the Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre played a key role in maintaining a cargo consolidation point for outgoing freight, while Joint Logistics Units North and North Queensland both performed important roles as a mounting base headquarters for operational or exercise support. Joint Logistics Command managed, supervised or conducted $9.4m of maintenance work in support of post-operation equipment remediation utilising a range of contracted maintenance support.