Ibid - Australian Army

Land Warfare Studies Centre 38
innovative method of preparing for future war into a straitjacket
designed to hold in place old verities.
The Impact of Joint Doctrine, 1990–99
The movement towards joint doctrine was symbolised in July 1990
when the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) established the
ADF Warfare Centre (ADFWC) and charged it with responsibility
for the development of all joint defence force doctrine. A Joint
Operations Doctrine Group (JODG) was formed to provide
executive advice from the single services to the ADF Warfare
Centre in the production of general joint doctrine and procedures
and, in particular, the two key ADF doctrine manuals: ADFP 1—
Doctrine, and ADFP 6—Operations. 151
The creation of the ADF Warfare Centre and the formation of the
JODG were followed in January 1997 by the establishment of
Headquarters Australian Theatre (HQAST) in Sydney. The
significance of HQAST was that, for the first time in its history, the
ADF formed an operational-level theatre headquarters with
embedded joint and single-service staff. HQAST placed the singleservice
Land, Maritime and Air Commanders under the operational
control of Commander Australian Theatre (COMAST) as
component commanders in a joint headquarters. The Army’s
Headquarters Special Operations (HQSO) also came under the
control of the new theatre headquarters. Headquarters 1st Division
and Commodore Flotillas were reconstituted as a Deployable Joint
Force Headquarters (DJFHQ) which, together with Headquarters
Northern Command (HQNORCOM), was to provide COMAST
with command and control at the tactical and operational levels. 152
151
152
Australian Army, Doctrine Status and Development 1991, pp. 6–7,
paras 12–15. It is important to note that the ADF Warfare Centre grew
out of the Australian Joint Warfare Establishment (AJWE).
Department of Defence, ‘Establishment of Headquarters Australian
Theatre’, Circular Memorandum No. 21/97, 7 April 1997, pp. 1–2.