The Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF) is the military deputy to the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) of Australia, and acts as the CDF in his absence under standing acting arrangements. Vice Admiral David Johnston, the incumbent VCDF, has held the position since 5 July 2018.

Responsibilities

Created in 1986, the VCDF is a three-star officer in the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

(

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

, vice admiral, or air marshal). The position's standing responsibilities include: Joint Doctrine, Education, Training and Evaluation; Joint Logistics; Reserve Policy; and Joint Capabilities, Commitments and Concepts. When acting as Chief of the Defence Force, the VCDF attends the National Security Committee of Cabinet (NSCC) and Secretary’s Committee on National Security (SCNS). Until September 2007, the VCDF was "double hatted" as the Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS). In this role he commanded Australian Defence Force operations on behalf of the Chief of the Defence Force. In September 2007, the Minister of Defence,

Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is a business leader and former Australian politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NA ...

announced the formation of a separate three-star CJOPS position based at the Headquarters Joint Operations Command ( HQJOC) facility at Bungendore, New South Wales.

Appointment

The appointment is made by the

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

on the advice of his/her ministers under Section 9AA of the ''Defence Act (1903)'' and is for a fixed term of four years, nominally rotated between the three services,

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

; however in practice this has not been the case and the appointment has been held for longer or shorter periods of time. The role is politically neutral, as are all military positions, and is not affected by a change of government.

VCDF Group

The Vice Chief of the Defence Force Group is responsible for the provision of military strategic effects and commitments advice and planning, joint military professional education and training, logistics support, health support, ADF cadet and reserve policy, joint capability coordination, preparedness management, and joint and combined ADF doctrine.
Vice Chief of the Defence Force Group Organisational Chart
Vice Chief of the Defence Force Group overview of Commands and Divisions overview The Military Strategic Commitments Division (MSCD) provides and coordinates ADF tri-service and joint strategic advice across the Australian Government (including the Headquarters Joint Operations Command (Australia), Headquarters Joint Operations Command and the

Defence Strategic Policy and Intelligence Group The Defence Strategic Policy and Intelligence Group (SP&I) of the Australian Government Department of Defence is responsible for defence diplomacy, strategic policy, international security, and military intelligence co-ordination and advice t ...

) and

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness (SA) is the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. An alternative definition is tha ...

for current and potential ADF commitments. The Head Military Strategic Commitments is also responsible for the

Australian Defence Force Investigative Service The Australian Defence Force Investigative Service (ADFIS) is the unified investigative arm of the Australian Defence Force's Joint Military Police Unit. Initially formed in 2007 as a part of the service police until its amalgamation into th ...

, strategic communications, strategic crisis response, the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program, and engagement with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

and other coalition partners. The Military Strategic Plans Division (MSPD) provides strategic planning linking policy and operational arrangements. The Force Integration Division (FID) is responsible for the design, development, integration and coordination of ADF joint warfare capabilities, including

information system An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...

effects-based operations Effects-based operations (EBO) is a United States military concept that emerged during the Persian Gulf War for the planning and conduct of operations combining military and non-military methods to achieve a particular effect. An effects-based a ...

, and

counter-IED efforts Counter-IED efforts are done primarily by military and law enforcement (led by intelligence efforts) with the assistance of the diplomatic and financial communities. It involves a comprehensive approach of countering the threat networks that ...

.
Australian Government Directory overview of the Joint Capability Management and Integration Division The Force Design Division is responsible for the provision of guidance and planning for future joint force design, requirements, and capabilities of the ADF.

Appointees

The following list chronologically records those who have held the post of Vice Chief of the Defence Force. Rank and honours are as at the completion of the individual's term.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1985 till:2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1985 Define $now = 2022 Colors = id:vcdf value:rgb(1,0,0) legend: VCDF id:unused value:rgb(0,1,0) id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1985 at:1990 at:1995 at:2000 at:2005 at:2010 at:2015 at:2020 BarData = barset:PM bar:Funnell bar:Knox bar:Beaumont bar:Baker bar:Walls bar:Barrie bar:Riding bar:Mueller bar:Shalders bar:Gillespie bar:Hurley bar:Biskin bar:Griggs bar:Johnston PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:Funnell from: 1986 till: 1987 color:vcdf text: Ray Funnell bar:Knox from: 1987 till: 1989 color:vcdf text: Ian Knox bar:Beaumont from: 1989 till: 1992 color:vcdf text: Alan Beaumont bar:Baker from: 1992 till: 1995 color:vcdf text: John Baker bar:Walls from: 1995 till: 1997 color:vcdf text:

Robert Walls Robert Walls (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 games ...

bar:Barrie from: 1997 till: 1998 color:vcdf text:

Chris Barrie Chris Barrie (born Christopher Jonathan Brown, 28 March 1960) is a British actor, comedian, and impressionist. He worked as a vocal impressionist on the ITV sketch show ''Spitting Image'' (1984–1996) and as Lara Croft's butler Hillary in t ...

bar:Riding from: 1998 till: 2000 color:vcdf text: Douglas Riding bar:Mueller from: 2000 till: 2002 color:vcdf text: Desmond Mueller bar:Shalders from: 2002 till: 2005 color:vcdf text:

Russ Shalders Vice Admiral Russell Edward Shalders, (born 28 September 1951) is a retired admiral of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). He served as Vice Chief of the Australian Defence Force from 2002 to 2005, and as Chief of Navy from 2005 to 2008. Early ...

bar:Gillespie from: 2005 till: 2008 color:vcdf text: Ken Gillespie bar:Hurley from: 2008 till: 2011 color:vcdf text:

David Hurley General David John Hurley, (born 26 August 1953) is an Australian former senior officer in the Australian Army who has served as the 27th governor-general of Australia since 1 July 2019. He was previously the 38th governor of New South Wales, ...

bar:Biskin from: 2011 till: 2014 color:vcdf text: Mark Binskin bar:Griggs from: 2014 till: 2018 color:vcdf text:

Ray Griggs Vice Admiral Raymond James Griggs, (born July 1961) is an Australian senior public servant and a former senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy. He served as Chief of Navy from June 2011 to June 2014, before being appointed Vice Chief o ...

bar:Johnston from: 2018 till: $now color:vcdf text: David Johnston

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vice Chief Of The Defence Force (Australia) Australian Defence Force Leadership of the Australian Defence Force Military appointments of Australia