HCSS Centre for Strategic Studies

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Stephan De Spiegeleire, MSc.

Closing the Loop - Chapter 4

by S. De Spiegeleire, P. van Hooft,
C. Culpepper, R. Willems

Chapter 4 – Capability Generation

Capabilities are at the heart of any defence effort and getting them ‘right’ has been, is, and will remain a fiendishly difficult task. During the Cold War (and especially since the introduction of PPBS-systems in the 1960s), capability generation developed as an increasingly sophisticated analytical process that attempts to make the endeavour of translating policy into capabilities more systematic and transparent. Large sums of money were invested (especially in the larger countries) into various tools and techniques (including a substantial modelling effort) to support this. After the end of the Cold War, it quickly became clear that the existing analytical suite had to be substantially retooled. New ideas and approaches about how capabilities could be generated in more optimal ways emerged relatively quickly (Capabilities-Based Planning Davis). But the uncertainties of the new strategic environment combined with radically changed financial priorities in many countries (‘peace dividend’) led to a situation where these ideas were not so easily converted into new useable tools. This chapter documents where the referents examined for this study currently stand in this difficult and slow transition to genuine capabilities-based planning.

from: HCSS, 04/01/09

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