December 9, 2009
The Army is undertaking a periodic review of its top level organisation which is intended to produce a structure which better aligns responsibility, authority and accountability.
The structure at three-star level (under the command of a three-star Lieutenant General) has been settled and is being formally established today, Wednesday 9 December 2009.
The new structure does not change the number of three-star areas, but provides a more coherent division of responsibilities within Land Forces.
Major General Poffley, Chief of Staff Land Forces, said of the organisational review:
"It looks to try and take what we've done to date; try to get the London part of the Army staff in a place where it can concentrate on strategic issues, and refocus the Land Forces staff to concentrate on, essentially, three bespoke areas."
The new commands comprise:
a. Commander Field Army (CFA) - Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Barney White-Spunner. CFA will generate and prepare forces for current and contingency operations.
b. Commander Force Development and Training (Comd FDT) - Lt Gen Bill Rollo. Comd FDT will recruit and train the Army, and develop its capability, sustainability and doctrine.
c. Personnel and Support Command (PSC) - commanded by the Adjutant General (AG), Lt Gen Mark Mans. Retaining the title of AG for reasons of historical and legal continuity and to reflect his Principal Personnel Officer function, AG will develop the Army's personnel policies and deliver the 'Firm Base' by supporting its people, managing its infrastructure and leading the Army's engagement with the community.
Further work to determine the exact composition and structures within each command continues. The Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) is unchanged and will remain a two-star command (under a two-star Major General) within Land Forces.
In summary, the new top level structure is clearer and more accountable, and removes any previous ambiguity or duplication of responsibility.
These changes will improve the Army's ability to support operations and to respond to their demands.
In particular the creation of Force Development and Training Command will bring together, for the first time under one three-star commander, responsibility for the capturing of lessons from operations, the development of concepts and doctrine, and the provision of training for units deploying on operations.
More agile, responsive and operationally effective, it makes the Army better able to deliver high quality support to the front line in Afghanistan, and soldiers and their families wherever they are.
Maj Gen Poffley said:
"It is quite important that that development and training pillar exploits the lessons we are learning from the contemporary operations; that it looks to better manage the way we develop capabilities - both equipment and capability in the broader sense - and that that flows through into our training in a very consistent way, so that we deliver, firstly, appropriate training that is matched with a contemporary fight, but also that it is consistent and therefore contributes to campaign continuity, which is an area in which inevitably we would look to see increasing stability as we go forward, particularly in Afghanistan."
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