It is my pleasure to introduce this Strategic Plan 2007-2011 (SP 7/11) which outlines the pathways we have chosen for our shared journey towards a joint vision of being a resilient, disciplined and professional military organisation. This is the NZDF’s first corporate-level strategic plan, and sets out to build on the Interim Strategic Plan produced in July of 2005. That plan met the immediate requirements of the Defence Capability and Resourcing Review, and the Defence Sustainability Initiative. Some 18 months later, this new plan forms an integral part of the new Defence Planning Framework and provides the bridge between longer term strategic guidance, and subordinate parts of the framework.
While the international security environment is expected to remain dynamic, the primary focus of the NZDF through the life of this Strategic Plan will continue to be: to prepare and deploy forces on operations as required by the Government, to provide military advice, and, in collaboration with the Secretary of Defence, to modernise the Defence Force by implementing the many projects under the Defence Sustainability Initiative and Defence Long-Term Development Plan.
Defence Outcomes and the NZDF Mission Statement have not changed, reflecting the consistency of New Zealand’s approach to defence and security, however, central to this plan is a refreshed statement of the NZDF Vision that reflects our developing aspiration for the future: “Three Services as one Force, being the best in everything we do”.
This plan introduces the principle of Agility, which sits at the core of the culture and strategy of our Defence Force. Through the life of this Strategic Plan we will continue to face the requirement to restore, maintain and enhance military capability (in terms of people, equipment and activities); maintain NZDF support to widely dispersed missions around the world; and address operational tempo, and concurrency issues. We will need to be agile in our thinking, agile in our planning, agile throughout our training, and agile on operations.
All organisations are faced with choices when considering where and how to allocate resources across a wide span of activities, current and future. The NZDF has adopted a Balanced Scorecard approach to provide the framework for making and communicating these decisions, and the NZDF Strategy Map provides a “strategy at a glance” view of how we see the journey ahead.
J. MATEPARAE
Lieutenant General
Chief of Defence Force
New Zealand Defence Force
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