Defense Planning
Long Term Defence Planning (LTDP) deals with shaping tomorrows defence forces for an alliance or a nation. LTDP usually focuses on issues ten to thirty years into the future and is very important since it will shape the future capability of nations’ defence forces.
Long-Term Defense Planning
Defense Planning is a very complex area that influences future defense effectiveness and efficiency. Defense planning seeks to ensure that a nation has the necessary forces, assets, facilities and capabilities to fulfill its tasks throughout the full spectrum of its missions.
Long term defense planning is a specific planning discipline that is related to the relatively distant future. It faces a lot of difficulties which are consequences of uncertainties and contingencies of the future. Uncertainties and contingencies are a great challenge for defense planners and political decision makers.
The ends of Defense are the required defense outputs in support of national interests, values and goals in peacetime, crisis and war. Parliament and Government have primary responsibility for determining the ends of Defense. Examples of defense outputs (ends) are:
- Deter aggression;
- Homeland defense;
- Participation in international peace and humanitarian operations;
- Support to the Police and other civilian authorities.
The ways of Defense describe how the defense forces (means) will be used to accomplish strategic objectives (ends). They are concerned with the various methods of applying defense forces i.e. with strategic and operational concepts. The responsibility for determining defense ways is a dual political/military. The primary role of military is expert advice to politicians who are responsible for approving the main concepts. Examples of strategic and operational defense concepts (ways) are:
- Non-offensive defense or forward mobile defense concepts.
- A strategic defensive or offensive posture.
- Defense through regional defense co-operation and alliances or self-defense.
The means of Defense are instruments by which some “ends” can be achieved. The determination of the defense means is primarily the responsibility of the defense planners in alignment with the ends and ways as prescribed by policy. In practice, however, politicians will often have strong views also in this area and will usually have their say in determining the means. The defense means are the real cost drivers of Defense. The creation, maintenance and development of these capabilities are the primary consumers of defense resources. Examples of the defense means are:
- Land forces,
- Naval forces,
- Air Force,
- Special Operation Forces.
Defense Planning Considerations
Long term defence planning (LTDP) is but one component of the overall defence planning context. As such, it must accept input from and provide outputs to other processes. The relations within the defence planning process are shown in the figure below. The rectangle indicates the entire context, while the “hat” outlines LTDP.
The overall process starts with the desires of the nation to uphold and promote its values and interests. It then identifies how defence will contribute in achieving these desires, and generates defence forces capable of achieving defence objectives, subject to economic and other constraints. The process has many feedback loops allowing reverse causality; e.g. new force concepts influencing on defence policy development and existing programs influencing on the (new) planned force structure.
