The Capability, Armament & Planning Directorate (CAP) supports EU Member States in collaboratively planning, developing and acquiring defence capabilities that meet their needs as well as EU priorities.
The work includes supporting the Member States in identifying, preparing and supporting the execution of possible cooperation projects and programmes ranging from long term military capability development to short term armament procurement. This includes obtaining agreement on shared needs and related priorities, harmonising capability requirements and conducting capability development preparatory activities across all dimensions of capabilities (concept & doctrine, organisation, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities, and interoperability). It also includes aggregating demand towards joint procurement of defence products and services.
The Directorate, together with Member States and with the support of other competent EU institutions and bodies, operates the intergovernmental EU Capability Development Planning System (EU-CDPS) comprising several EU tools:
- Capability Development Plan (CDP), with the EU Military Committee (EUMC) and EU Military Staff (EUMS) contributions, leads to the identification of Capability Development Priorities agreed at EU level as a reference for all EU initiatives on Defence.
- Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), conducted with the contribution of EUMS, enables the analysis of the “State of the Union on Defence” and to identify opportunities for cooperation.
- Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), conducted together with the European External Action Service (EEAS), including EUMS, coordinates the analysis of the annual PESCO National Implementation Plans to assess the participating Member States’ fulfilment of the PESCO commitments, assesses Member States’ PESCO project proposals and monitors their progress.
Within EU-CDPS, the Directorate engages with Member States’ capability planners and experts to implement the EU Capability Development Priorities based on agreed collaborative roadmaps. When preparatory activities enable the identification of a possible cooperation project, the Directorate supports Member States interested in the project by elaborating a business case with them.
Organisation
The CAP Directorate comprises six units and one Coordination and Strategic Analysis Office. Five units address capability development and armament procurement activities of operational domains associated to EU agreed priorities and one operates the EU-CDPS and related processes and tools:
- Air & Space Domain Unit: Air Combat, Airborne Command and Inform Capabilities, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, Air Transport, Space Operations and Space Services
- Maritime Domain Unit: Naval Combat and Maritime Interdiction, Underwater and Seabed Warfare, Maritime Domain Awareness
- Land Domain Unit: Ground Combat Capabilities, Land-Based Precision Engagement, Future Soldier Systems
- Strategic Enablers & Cyber Unit: Cyber Warfare & Operations, Electro Magnetic Spectrum Operations & Electronic Warfare, Command / Control / Communications / Computers / Information Systems / Surveillance / Target Acquisition & Reconnaissance (C4ISTAR), Special Operation Forces
- Resilience & Support Unit: Military Mobility, Logistics, CBRN Defence, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Medical Support, Energy
- Cooperation Planning Unit: Management of EU-CDPS, including the conduct of the Capability Development Plan, CARD and PESCO
Based on this organisation, in coordination with other Directorates, CAP supports EU Member States with concrete proposals for cooperation at levels ranging from the technical to the political, while actively contributing to various capability-related initiatives launched by Member States at EU level, such as the EU Defence Readiness objective and associated Priority Capability Areas.