A Strategy for Canadian Landpower After Afghanistan
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2014-04-25 Specialization If Necessary, But Not Necessarily Specialization: A Strategy for Canadian Landpower After Afghanistan Moule, David Moule, D. (2014). Specialization If Necessary, But Not Necessarily Specialization: A Strategy for Canadian Landpower After Afghanistan (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27851 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1432 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Specialization If Necessary, But Not Necessarily Specialization: A Strategy for Canadian Landpower After Afghanistan by David Moule A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF STRATEGIC STUDIES CENTRE FOR MILITARY AND STRATEGIC STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA APRIL, 2014 © David Moule 2014 Abstract This thesis seeks to answer two core research questions: what roles and missions should the Canadian Army be able to perform in the pursuit of Canadian foreign and defence policy objectives, and what capabilities and force structure best allow the Army to meet these objectives? By answering these core questions, this study will develop a strategy for Canadian landpower which will seek to connect political ends (i.e., Canada’s current and future foreign and defence policy objectives) to the nation’s military means (i.e., the Canadian Army’s roles, missions, capabilities, and force structure post-Afghanistan). This strategy states that the Canadian Army’s approach to force development should be “specialization if necessary, but not necessarily specialization.” This means that for the Canadian Army, flexibility and adaptability may be more effectively maintained by introducing a moderate degree of specialization into its overall force structure, rather than pushing for the development of a completely balanced and multipurpose Land Force. ii Table of Contents Abstract..........................................................................................................................................ii Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................iii List of Figures................................................................................................................................vi Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The Constants of Canadian Defence Policy........................................................5 1.1 Strategic Choice in International Military Deployments...............................................5 1.2 Exercising Strategic Choice to Pursue Canadian Interests Abroad...............................8 1.3 Forward Security............................................................................................................9 1.4 Coalition Warfare.........................................................................................................10 1.5 Operational Influence/Saliency....................................................................................12 1.6 Interests and Influence.................................................................................................13 1.7 Methods of Obtaining Operational Influence/Saliency................................................18 1.8 Constraints on Force Development: Public Opinion and Defence Budgets................20 1.9 Public Opinion.............................................................................................................22 1.10 Defence as Discretionary Spending...........................................................................25 1.11 Cannibalizing the Future Force..................................................................................28 Chapter Two: Specialization and the Canadian Army.............................................................31 2.1 Multinational Solutions................................................................................................32 2.2 Role (Niche) Specialization.........................................................................................35 2.3 Capability Specialization.............................................................................................40 2.4 Finding the Right Mix: Tailorable Forces for Operational Niches..............................43 iii Chapter Three: The Canadian Foreign and Defence Policy Context.....................................46 3.1 Canadian National Interests.........................................................................................46 3.2 Canadian Foreign Policy Objectives............................................................................47 3.3 Canadian Defence Policy Objectives...........................................................................49 3.4 The Future Security Environment................................................................................51 3.5 Global Instability and Failed States.............................................................................52 3.6 Hybrid Warfare............................................................................................................61 3.7 The ABCA: The Future of Canadian Coalition Warfare..............................................63 3.8 The ABCA Armies’ Program.......................................................................................71 3.9 Canadian Public Opinion Post-Afghanistan................................................................75 3.10 Canadian Defence Budgets Post-Afghanistan...........................................................78 3.11 Implications for Canadian Army Force Development...............................................84 Chapter Four: The Canadian Army Post-Afghanistan............................................................87 4.1 Canadian Army Transformation...................................................................................87 4.2 The Canadian Army Post-Afghanistan........................................................................90 4.3 Core Missions, Capabilities, and Force Structures of ABCA Armies........................102 4.4 The United States.......................................................................................................103 4.5 Britain.........................................................................................................................110 4.6 Australia.....................................................................................................................114 4.7 Medio Tutissimus Ibis? Balance and Flexibility in the Canadian Army...................118 4.8 Strategic Relevance and the Canadian Army: Recommendations for the Future......128 iv Specialization If Necessary, But Not Necessarily Specialization: A Strategy for Canadian Landpower After Afghanistan..................................................................................................145 5.1 The Canadian Army’s Roles and Missions Post-Afghanistan...................................145 5.2 The Canadian Army’s Capabilities and Force Structure Post-Afghanistan...............149 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................154 v List of Figures Figure 1: The Continuum of Operations........................................................................................96 Figure 2: The Army of Tomorrow................................................................................................100 vi Introduction The Canadian Army is at an important stage in the development of core combat capabilities and force structure. Since 2001, Army planners have largely been focused on fighting the war in Afghanistan. However, with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)1 combat and training missions over, force planners must now ensure that the development of future capabilities are in step with the Army’s current Force Employment Concept. Released in 2007, Land Operations 2021: Adaptive Dispersed Operations—The Force Employment Concept for the Army of Tomorrow, provides the conceptual foundation for Canada’s Land Forces until 2021, and will form the basis of core capabilities and force structure into the foreseeable future.2 As such, this document will have important ramifications for future Land Force deployments. Because these deployments will be undertaken to serve the Government of Canada’s primary foreign and defence policy objectives, the Canadian Army must have the requisite military capabilities to accomplish its missions. However, despite the solid conceptual foundation upon which Army force development rests, the Army’s future post- Afghanistan is far from certain. Indeed, the recent cancellation of the Close Combat Vehicle procurement appears to be an indication that choices regarding future capabilities and force structure are becoming increasingly driven by budgetary pressures, rather