An Cosantóir

| 21 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE In parallel, we are about to launch a piece of work on the Army identity, including Mission, Vision and Values, and this will involve both an online survey through the Connect App, and focus groups with all formations. I would encourage all of our personnel to get involved and to have their say. According to the Detailed Implementation Plan, the Army Force Design has been initiated earlier in 2024 with "high level design" developed over Q3 and Q4 of 2024. Are you on target to complete the design phase? Firstly, good progress has been made to date on an analysis of the key factors which have a bearing on Force Design, which is ultimately the process of translating policy into a future structure which can be realised within the means available. There are a few points to note however. The Commission have observed that many of its recommendations are sequential, and there is a top-down sequence to the Force Design of the Army, i.e. the staffing and structures of the Strategic HQ, and in particular the Joint HQ need to be addressed before the Army can go firm on an optimal high level structure for the force. Indeed the recently- published Defence Policy Review specifically references the fact that the development of the services will be heavily influenced by the planned high level C2 reforms, including the redesign of the Strategic HQ and necessary governance structures. Therefore, while there may be slippage in the high level structure milestone, the detailed design is due to be completed in 2025, and that remains the intent, subject to the necessary higher level steps being in place. I would add however, that the most important consideration here is to get it right, and that is a key focus for everyone involved in this process. The CODF Report states (page 12): "In respect of the Army, the Commission has identified a range of issues with the current Army structure including that the current brigade system primarily comprises two regional administrative structures that are not deployable and do not align to international standards in terms of their strength or capabilities." Can you simplify the problems associated with our current organisational structure as outlined by the Commission? From a structural perspective, the most pressing issue facing the force is the lack of an Army Headquarters. This is a critical deficiency which impacts on unity of effort, capability development, service representation and resource allocation. More broadly, our structures lack the capacity to generate Force Elements at Readiness in a manner which is optimal and sustainable. This has led to a number of knock-on effects, including an erosion of our combat effectiveness, and challenges in sustaining the force. Both the White Paper on Defence, and the Defence Policy Review, recognise NATO standards as the ISO for military capability. If we measure our current structures against the applicable NATO capability codes, we find that we have many gaps. While our personnel have all performed exceptionally well when assessed as part of the NATO OCC process, in many cases it has taken an organisation-wide effort to bring units up to NATO standards – even temporarily. I would add that we have not been making optimal use of our Reserve, which will play a fundamental role in our future army, as will civilian appointments in enabling roles. The Force Design process presents us with an excellent opportunity to close many of these gaps in the coming years, and to ensure that we develop an Army which is trained and equipped to best international standards, and capable of generating, sustaining and applying effective land power to fulfil all roles assigned by Government. What reform piece are you most enthusiastic about and again can you explain to our readers WIIFM - "What's in it for me?" I think that everyone should be excited and optimistic about the Army of the future. For the first time in many years, we will have a new Army Headquarters responsible for raising training and maintaining land forces for both single service and joint operations. I see this as a significant step forward for the development of the Army, because in addition to providing further career development opportunities for our personnel, it will also bring purpose, vision and unity of effort to all parts of the force, in addition to greater focus on capability development, combat effectiveness and readiness – our core business. I think that there will be very exciting opportunities ahead, both domestically and internationally, as we enhance our interoperability and embrace NATO standards where possible. Ultimately, as set out in the Defence Policy review, the Army is of central importance in offering scalable and responsive options to Government in protecting Ireland's interests, and in that regard, we should all be excited about our next chapter as a fundamental institution of the State. Speaking directly to serving members who are coming to a point in their service where they may be deciding to leave or remain, can you outline your top three reasons they should remain (with specific focus on what the Army/Air Force/Navy may look like in 2028 at the end of LOA2"). Firstly, the quality of the Army's personnel has been recognised time and again – whether it be our performance on international courses and competitions where we are benchmarked against the very best in the world; our adaptability in successfully executing complex kinetic and non-kinetic operations at home; or our status as a partner of choice on overseas Peace Support Operations. The Detailed Implementation Plan affords us the opportunity to recapitalise the Army across the combat functions – delivering new equipment and materiel to provide enhanced mobility, firepower and ISTAR capabilities, all nested within fit-for-purpose structures. Work is well underway in identifying the next generation of armour to replace the current fleet once it reaches the end of its service life; the Defence Policy Review has prioritised the development of Ground- Based Air Defence for the Army; the latest technology in Software Defined Radio systems are currently being rolled out across the service, and several soldier systems are at various stages in the procurement pipeline. This will ensure that the qualitative edge that our personnel afford us is further enhanced by world-class equipment and an agile and flexible Order of Battle. Secondly, the recently published Defence Policy Review has provided clarity with regard to the roles and priorities of the Army. It clearly sets out a primary role of national defence, and stipulates that we must be prepared to serve on higher intensity and robust peace support operations. In order to meet these policy requirements in the context of an evolving security environment, the Army will need to focus on readiness to a much greater degree in the future. We will need to develop and inculcate an operational mindset, and a robust operating concept which will see us shedding many of our non-core tasks and a return to the core business of collective training, readiness and interoperability. This will see us deploy on national and international exercises in combined arms, joint and multi-agency environments much more frequently than is currently the case. Our Force Design will be fundamental to creating the conditions for our readiness and combat effectiveness. Finally, the Army of the future will be very different in composition to the Army of today. The reserve will be integrated into our structures to a far greater degree, and will play a more central role in support of the PDF. Civilian Staff will provide us with the continuity we need in appropriate areas of work, thereby freeing up our soldiers to perform core tasks, and working alongside our sister services as part of an effective joint force will become routine. When we take a step back and consider the full scope of initiatives currently underway as part of the DIP (including changes to HR policies, new accommodation and facilities and new kit and equipment) and fold them into an agile and flexible Army force Structure, we can see that the conditions are being created for the development of a world class army and a life less ordinary.

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