Lieutenant General David Hurley, formerly Chief Capability Development Group (CCDG), has been appointed to the new three star position of Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS). Rear Admiral Matt Tripovich has been promoted to Vice Admiral to take up the position of CCDG.

The creation of a separate three star (CJOPS) position enables Defence to split the roles currently performed by one officer - VCDF. It will address one of the key findings of the recent Defence Management Review; that Defence faced significant challenges in meeting its administrative responsibilities while conducting military operations in nine major deployments around the world.

The splitting of the two roles will provide a more suitable balance between the management of Defence business at the strategic level and command of operations.

As CJOPS, General Hurley will focus on the command and control of operations during this time of ongoing high operational tempo. He will be based at the new state-of-the-art Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC) facility on its completion.

Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, as VCDF, will be able to focus on delivering strategic advice to both the CDF and Government. He will also develop policy guidance for current and future commitments to assist CDF in governing the operating tempo of the ADF and be the ADF’s joint capability manager.

The new VCDF group will include Joint Doctrine, Education, Training and Evaluation; Joint Logistics; Reserve Policy; and Joint Capabilities, Commitments and Concepts.

A copy of the Defence Management Review report and the Defence response is available at: http://www.defence.gov.au/dmr/

Information on the HQJOC project is at http://www.defence.gov.au/id/hqjoc/fact_sheets.htm