Armed Forces Joint Staff (AFJS)

The main task of the Armed Forces Joint Staff (AFJS) comprises planning as well as command and control of operations and missions of the Swiss Armed Forces in Switzerland and abroad that involve several services (JOINT) and have not been delegated to either land forces or air force or to the centres of competence. Apart from continual appraisal of the situation and permanent control of the situation, the AFJS is also responsible for the supervision and support of militia military personnel and military recruitment. As assigned by the Chief of the Armed Forces the AFJS issues the directives for basic readiness of the armed forces, regular annual substantial readiness instructions as well as the service rota and multi-year armed forces planning. –The AFJS thus defines which services the armed forces are obliged to provide in the short and medium term. In the form of orders and directives the Armed Forces Joint Staff lays down what has to be achieved in the fields of training, logistics, command and control and human resources and it measures to what extent targets have been met.

The AFJS ensures that the services of the armed forces relating to peace support, NBC defence and unexploded ordnance disposal, military police and special forces are provided for. For this purpose Swiss International Command SWISSINT and the NBC-KAMIR Centre of Competence, Military Security and Grenadier Command 1 (after 1 January 2012 designated as Special Forces Command) have been assigned to the head of the Armed Forces Joint Staff. Furthermore, four territorial regions are assigned to the AFJS for operations. If necessary the professional employees of the AFJS are reinforced by militia personnel from the armed forces staff groups 200 to 390. Together with the Armed Forces Staff the AFJS forms headquarters of the Swiss Armed Forces.

Chief Armed Forces Joint staff is Major General Jean Marc Halter