A Framework For Strategic Military Capabilities In Defense Transformation

For transformation to be an effective process, the defense industry must have a clear and common understanding of military capability. However, capability is an abstract concept. In order to make this concept more tangible effects-based operations, force structures and the lines of capability development have been integrated. A conceptual framework is proposed for the mapping and visual representation of these strategic capability partitions. The framework is formed of four concentric layers: i) building blocks, ii) functional packages, iii) effects and iv) influencers. The building blocks of capability consist of lines of common facilities interwoven with the spectrum of strategic platforms. Bonded onto the capability building blocks are the functional packages which represent the warfighting force structures together with the operational environment domains. The next layer integrates the effects-based approach while the fourth and final layer links these three views of military capability with the set of influencers, namely: policy, commitments, threats, scenarios and concept of operations. The mapping of capabilities onto the framework then allows the stakeholders to develop their transformation roadmaps and synchronize the associated capability development plans. To illustrate the application of the framework, a visual representation has been populated with case data for the United Kingdom.