The Future of CAF Operational Sustainment: Better Linking the Institution to Operational Support

May 18, 2023 - Defence Stories

By LCol David Warnke, Deputy Director Operational Sustainment

To enable the modernization of operational sustainment and strengthen linkages between Institutional Sustainment and Operations Support, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has recently developed an Operational Sustainment Modernization (OSM) Strategy.

The OSM Strategy stemmed from Canada’s Defence Policy (Strong, Secure, Engaged), the CAF Reconstitution Directive, and evolving CAF operating concepts. It was also developed as a companion and response to similar strategies from Canada’s closest allies, many of whom have modernized their own logistics strategies.

“Sustainment is an operational function that underpins all operations at home and abroad and is enabled by Joint Logistics, Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers, Health Services Support, Communication Information Systems, Military Police, and Joint General Support Engineers. The purpose of the OSM Strategy is to guide DND/CAF efforts to achieve coherent Force Development alignment and strengthen the linkages across the Sustainment Enterprise,” says General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff, in his foreword to the strategy.

“It is also about empowering our greatest resource, our people, to sustain and win the fight. Tranche 1 of the strategy will set the conditions for Joint Logistics to be resilient, agile, data-driven and horizontally integrated.”

The Chief of Combat Systems Integration (CCSI), a Level 2 Advisor to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (VCDS) stood up in 2021 with a mandate to kickstart modernization and help shape the future of the CAF developed the OSM Strategy and has additionally supported CAF Reconstitution and modernization with the recent release of the CAF Digital Campaign Plan.

The strategy introduces three common pillars within the Sustainment Enterprise: Institutional Sustainment, Operational Sustainment and Operational Support. The most recently defined pillar, Operational Sustainment, is focused on the sustain function in CAF Joint Force Development, Force Management and strategic sustainment.

Furthermore, the strategy is the common framework that will be leveraged to modernize the CAF’s joint enabling capabilities: Joint Logistics, Health Services Support, Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers, Communications Information Systems, Military Police, and Joint General Support Engineers.

The first tranche of the OSM Strategy focuses on Joint Logistics modernization, which closely aligns with several ongoing DND/CAF enterprise modernization initiatives, such as DefenceX. Efforts have already commenced on the next OSM tranche, supporting the modernization of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group. In the coming years, strategies will be developed for the remaining joint enabling capabilities. As each subsequent strategy is released, the CAF’s linkages between Institutional Sustainment and Operational Support will be reinforced and CAF readiness and operational reach will be extended. The end state is that the CAF will be sustained by a fully integrated and modernized Operational Sustainment function that can drive capability development, generate decisive military advantages, and maintain operational readiness across all domains.

CCSI was created in response to multiple audit reports and studies that highlighted deficiencies in CAF joint integration, digitalization, and sustainment modernization. Three directorates were established within CCSI: the Directorate of Joint Integration (DJI), the Directorate of Military Digital Operations (DMDO), and the Directorate of Operational Sustainment (DOpS). Alongside the Chief of Force Development and Chief of Programme, CCSI is an influencer of key strategic outcomes and Force Development in the CAF.

CCSI’s strategic impact is realized through integrated advice to the VCDS, advice to governance bodies with respect to DND/CAF projects, and development of CAF strategies and concepts in the areas of sustainment, pan-domain C2, and digitalization.