Niteworks 3: Shaping Combat Service Support for Army 2020 and beyond
Assist British Army transformation by shaping and improving the Combat Service Support, Command and Control construct for future land forces to 2020 and beyond.
MOD Crown Copyright
Background
Through Army 2020 Refine (A2020R), the Army Headquarters’ transformation of land forces is driving the development of leaner structures and more effective and efficient operating procedures across all functional areas. Future land forces must be rapidly deployable and operationally agile, with an optimised logistic footprint and resilient sustainment requirements, capable of operating in austere environmental conditions and of exploiting technological advances. In the Combat Service Support (CSS) area, this will demand improved command and control (C2).
Commander Field Army (CFA) directed a re-organisation of CSS 1* headquarters for contingency operations, improving the integration with the divisional level of command and reducing manpower liabilities without impacting operational effectiveness.
Niteworks Task
Niteworks was selected to support Head of Capability (Hd Cap) CSS in delivering this task because of its unparalleled access to a wide industrial and academic perspective. This provided innovative and challenging procedural and technological thinking beyond that of the military.
The task involved blending this perspective with MOD experience to shape the future CSS C2 construct by:
* Developing underpinning C2 principles
* Detailing C2 requirements in the principal CSS HQs
* Conducting a gap analysis against current capability
* Recommending an evidenced development strategy to drive future capability development and research and experimentation activity
How did Niteworks approach the task?
The project team engaged with senior industry and academic stakeholders from across the Niteworks partnership as well as the military. Four high-level military exercises were used to gather data; two workshops were held and a significant number of one-on-one interviews took place. This established high level principles and provided significant evidence to underpin conclusions and recommendations. A gap analysis identified shortfalls in the current CSS C2 model and determined areas for future development; the emerging findings were judged and scored by a panel of senior Army stakeholders. A total of 65 conclusions and recommendations were generated, supporting various C2 model options. The selected option was developed in detail to meet CFA’s direction and inform wider A2020R development.
What was the outcome?
The proposed development strategy focused on four areas: the home base; the Joint Support Area (JSA); the Divisional Support Area (DSA); and the Brigade Support Area (BSA).
The principal recommendations included: * Redefining the C2 arrangements in 101 Logistics Brigade * Recasting the 104 Logistic Support Brigade’s relationships with Joint enablers in the JSA and Land enablers in the DSA * Regenerating the capabilities of the Divisional Support Group and enhancing the role of the Deputy Chief of Staff within the Divisional HQ * Clarifying the C2 arrangements for the Brigade Support Group (BSG). * Outputs included detailed organisation charts for the Brigade and Divisional HQs and high level information exchange requirements to ensure key decision-makers are properly informed. Evidenced CSS input to the A2020R work influenced development and prioritisation decisions.
The project sponsor, Brigadier Martin Moore CBE (Hd Cap CSS), commented:
The recommendations made by the project have included immediate manpower liability savings as well as the opportunity to achieve significantly greater manpower liability savings in subsequent years, all in line with A2020R outputs. Taken together, the recommendations that were made represent a realistic opportunity to achieve significant capability improvements across LE CSS.
What were the benefits of this work?
The benefits delivered through implementing the proposals fall into three areas:
- an up to date, independent, objective strategy that influences the structures, doctrine and resources for CSS C2 over the medium to long term, improving Hd Cap CSS’s ability to contribute to various high level studies, including A2020R
- streamlining the planning and operations processes through the simplification of the CSS C2 structure within the Divisional HQ
- reduction in operational risk through the implementation of the proposed strategy simplifying CSS C2 at the divisional level; improving CSS delivery at brigade level and enabling future efficiencies