New Zealand Defence Force Capability Reviews
Phase One – Land Forces and
Sealift (November 2000)
Glossary
Air interdiction
- An air operation conducted to destroy, neutralise or delay the enemy’s military potential before it can be brought to bear effectively against friendly forces at such a distance from friendly forces that detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of friendly forces is not required.
Capability
- The ability to produce an effect, generally achieved through a combination of people, training and doctrine, equipment, their readiness and how they are used.
Capability blueprint
- A plan that will show how we move from the status quo to the appropriate level of capability for the NZDF, in order of priority.
Chapter VI operations
- refer to operations conducted with reference to Chapter VI of the UN Charter which deals with the “pacific settlements of disputes”. These are routinely traditional peacekeeping tasks such as ceasefire monitoring.
Chapter VII operations
- refer to operations conducted with reference to Chapter VII of the UN Charter which deals with the use of “air, sea or land forces … to maintain or restore international peace and security”. This could include combat operations as part of peace enforcement.
Close air support
- Air action against hostile targets which are in close proximity to friendly forces and which require detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of those forces.
Direct fire
- Fire delivered at a target that can be seen by the aimer.
Doctrine
- The fundamental principles by which military forces guide their actions in support of objectives. It is authoritative, but requires judgement in application.
Indirect fire
- Fire delivered at a target that cannot be seen by the aimer.
Interoperability
- Interoperability is the level of standardisation required for New Zealand to work with other countries.
Joint and Combined Operations
- With very few exceptions, the NZDF will be involved in joint operations, that is, operations that involve more than one service. While the single services are the basic building blocks of military capabilities, they must be structured to operate in a joint environment. For local, low level tasks, this involves the New Zealand Navy, Army and Air Force working together. For most other operations the NZDF would likely be part of a larger multinational force. In these circumstances, the NZDF force elements may be combined with single service elements of other nations.
Non-Governmental Organisation
- NGOs is an official terms used in Article 71 of the UN Charter to describe a wide range of primarily non-profit organisations motivated by humanitarian or religious values, that are usually independent of governments, the UN and commercial sectors. NGO sector is extremely diverse and includes thousands of very different organisations varying in size, maturity, expertise, quality and mission. Increasingly, NGOs are used by national and international donors as effective and non-political responses to complex emergencies.
Readiness
- Readiness describes the level of a particular unit’s availability to conduct combat operations. The term covers all the elements necessary for a force to go into combat, such as levels of training, manning, equipment, stores and supplies, and morale.
Rotations
- Rotations occur when a unit in an operational theatre is replaced by another so that the first can recover and retrain. The first rotation is defined as the first replacement force for the one originally deployed.
Self-sufficient
- A force is self-sufficient if it has enough inherent capability to complete its primary task and all reasonable implied tasks.
Shaping
- Influence through political, military or other means to change the environment for your benefit. Usually conducted in anticipation of a subsequent event or operation. It can include the use of political, diplomatic or military activity, including the use of force.
Sustainability
- Sustainability is the ability to support a designated force through the duration of an operation. It includes, for example, sufficient personnel for initial deployment, required rotations and casualties, and logistic stocks required by the deployed forces.
Tempo
- The tempo of operations is the pace of events. It includes the ability to move, think and react. If one member of a combined operation is working at a lower tempo, ‘coalition drag’ is created, that is the coalition is forced to slow down to accommodate the least capable partners.
