Changes ahead for new HQJOC

By SQNLDR Tania Hunter
Volume 48, No. 10, June 15, 2006

The new HQJOC will be responsible for all ADF operations and exercises, such as Exercise Pacific Airlift Rally, held last year.

Photo by LAC Col Dadd

SIGNIFICANT command changes are in the wind for Air Force after the new Headquarters, Joint Operational Command (HQJOC), is established near Bungendore in 2008-09.

The new command will have responsibility for the planning, control and conduct of all joint operations and exercises undertaken by the ADF. The command is a result of the 2005 Wilson review intro higher ADF command and control arrangements.

An interim HQJOC is to be established in January 2007, but until the new headquarters building is built, elements will be located at a number of facilities including the current Potts Point [Sydney] facility and various locations in Canberra.

Under the new arrangements, the Joint Force Air Component (JFAC) will relocate from Headquarters Air Command (HQAC) to HQJOC.

The JFAC organisation, including the Air Operations Centre, will become the Director General Air (DGAIR), and will be located in Canberra.

In order to establish the new organisation, a number of offsets have been provided from HQAC. This, and the change of Air Command to a solely “Raise, Train and Sustain” organisation, requires a restructure for HQAC also.

Despite the changes, a significant Air Force presence will remain at RAAF Glenbrook as residual elements of HQAC are expected to remain there for at least the next four years.

Members contemplating a posting to HQAC or HQJOC need to be aware of the scope of change being undertaken and the potential for positions to be transferred between the commands, and therefore the shift in their geographical locations.

For more information, members should log onto the website:
http://intranet.defence.gov.au/raafweb/sites/JFAC-HQJOC/ for a full list of the positions earmarked for transfer, or contact the collocation team on (02) 4737 7656.

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