Welcome
Welcome to the Chief Force Development (CFD) website where you will find information of interest to the Canadian Forces (CF) and Department of National Defence (DND) force development (FD) community. You are invited to take a close look at the enclosed information and become familiar with the new CFD organization and processes.
Chief Force Development
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The CF and DND are currently undergoing a historic transformation. The implications of this transformation will be far-reaching, and will have a significant impact on the conduct of military operations at all levels. To manage these changes, transformation has been broken down into a four-phase process. Phase One concluded with the formulation of a CF vision and the publication of the Defence Policy Statement. Phase Two involved the creation of a new CF strategic and operational command and control structure. Phase Three, which is underway concurrently with Phase Two, entails the alignment of CF and DND strategic and operational supporting elements to the new command and control structure. Finally, Phase Four will see the development of capability options to ensure the CF can generate the required forces to meet its operational requirements.
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The establishment of CFD is an integral part of Phase Two and is well underway. The creation of CFD is key to executing the four strategic lines of operations of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS): vision, structure, capabilities, and people.
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In the past, the Environmental Chiefs of Staff (ECS - Navy, Army, Air Force), Special Forces and Functional Level 1s (L1s) have tended to conduct FD activities independently. To achieve a more holistic and efficient FD process, CFD, as the centralized FD authority, will synchronize the efforts of the various CF FD communities. Through extensive networking, CFD will also create a coherent prioritization process for CF capability acquisitions and sustainment.
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A central aspect of the FD process is a robust capability based planning (CBP) methodology, which will conduct mission analysis of real world based scenarios, to determine capability goals and the right mix of capability options needed to meet the identified CF/DND tasks. These options will be further refined through a CFD-led Capability Development Board.
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CFD organization will be implemented over the next two years using a spiral development methodology. Spiral One was completed on 1 February 2006 and involved the integration of the Director General Joint Force Development (from the previous Deputy Chief of Defence Staff organization) into the Director General Strategic Planning (DGSP) as the new Director Joint Capability Production (DJCP). Spiral Two will lead to IOC in the summer of 2006, resulting in a more robust CFD capability where the focus will primarily be on the execution of CBP and the maturation of the capability management. CFD will reach its final operational capability in Spiral Three by summer 2007.
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CFD success will also be dependent on a close link to the new Chief of Programme (CProg) organization to ensure the effective implementation of the selected FD options. As with all aspects of CF transformation, the creation of CFD will face challenges. However, CFD is dedicated to harmonizing and efficiently sequencing FD efforts to help ensure the overall success of the CF’s transformation.
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The partnership of CFD with C Prog (under the VCDS) will give the CF/DND a more coherent and robust FD and capability production system, leading to the fielding of highly effective forces able to meet the security and warfare challenges of the future.
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