New Canadian Forces command created to better co-ordinate joint capabilities

A new Canadian Forces command has been created to better co-ordinate joint military capabilities, including health care and logistics.

The creation of Canadian Joint Forces Command or CJFC was announced Thursday by the Liberal government.

Lt.-Gen. Darcy Molstad and Chief Warrant Officer Donovan Crawford have been named as the inaugural CJFC command team.

The command, to be based for now at the Department of National Defence’s Carling Avenue campus in Ottawa, will oversee existing capabilities that provide support for the Canadian Forces, Molstad said in and interview.

Those include military health services, logistics and operational support branches as well as joint force development.

“The size of this organization right now is almost 10,000 people strong,” Molstad said. “This is going to optimize the reporting chain of command.”

The organizations that will report to the new command will stay in their respective locations, but Molstad will be able to be able to champion their respective concerns and issues in the military leadership.

Previous studies have identified gaps in how Canadian military joint capabilities are developed, managed and sustained, according to the federal government. So the new command will deal with these gaps by centralizing leadership and accountability for joint capabilities.

That type of coordination and oversight will help improve capabilities, Molstad said.

He used the example of new drone technology. Each of the military services have or are looking at such capabilities.

“When I think of the uncrewed systems example we want to make sure all of our services have uncrewed capabilities but we have to also make sure they are speaking to each other, that they feed into our command and control systems, our decision making system, as an entire joint force and not just within their own headquarters,” Molstad said.

Drone warfare has emerged from the Russia-Ukraine war as a game changing capability on the battlefield. While the Canadian military has fielded such systems they are considered far behind in the use and acquisition of the technology.

David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist covering Canadian Forces and military issues in Canada. To support his work, including exclusive content for subscribers only, sign up here: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe

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