JFACC's Organisation

Glossary COMJFACC: FAC Commander. IKM: Information Knowledge Management. COS: Chief Of Staff. Strategy and Assessment: branch within which the air campaign strategy is defined. Air Plans: Operational documents production, air campaign tuning. AIC: Intelligence. Force Enablers: In charge of the forces support, finance, budget, CIS, personnel and logistics. Non kinetic: Deals with all the potential social, cultural, economic impacts on the air campaign.

Up to June 2008, the French JFACC was divided in two pillars of expertise : a headquarters divided into different cells (ranging from A1 to A9) which were in charge of planning air operations and a cell in charge of tasking and carrying out air missions.

But owing to the complexity of the strategic environment of current crises, which involve a significant number of different actors with different centres of interests, it became necessary to adapt our approach to the management of crises. The usual manoeuvres were not enough.

Indeed, since crises nowadays take place among the populations, their resolve will depend on intelligence services, on a deep understanding of the motivations and centres of interest of the various actors as well as on relevant operations of influence.

Bearing this in mind, the CDAOA created within the JFACC a Command and Control (C2) structure, dedicated to the NRF12. The latter has given up the usual cell by cell structure in favour of a structure more functional.

The cells are now gathered together according to their operational production so that each one can deal with the process from the beginning to its end.

So, from now on, the lower part of the Air Operations Directives (AOD) is run only by the JFACC Air Plans cell throughout.

Actually, the most significant change is the creation of the Non-Kinetic cell dedicated to the Effect-Based Approach to Air Operations (EBAO). It provides the Air Component Command with a specific knowledge of the environment and enables it to tuck its action as best as possible in the strategy of influence elaborated by the operational level.

This progress in the C2 structure comes along with cuts in the positions thus refocusing on a streamlined organisation of the JFACC that becomes more responsive and efficient.

That new structure has been set up in the framework of the certification exercises Noble Ardent 08 and will still be during Steadfast Joiner 08.