folleto esfas - Ministerio de Defensa

SEPTEMBER 2010
ESCUELA SUPERIOR DE LAS FUERZAS ARMADAS
INTRODUCTION
Established in 1842, the Escuela de Guerra was the first staff
college in Spain,. After World War I, the Navy founded the Escuela
de Guerra Naval and in 1939, the Air Force also established their
Escuela de Guerra Aérea.
World War II showed the need for a unified doctrine for joint and
combined operations. The process of establishing the Centro
Superior de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional (CESEDEN) was
started as a consequence of the need for a Joint Staff College, but the
initial concept changed to create a high level centre of political,
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military, strategic, economic and sociologic studies relevant to
National Defence.
Nevertheless, some of the tasks associated with the initial concept
were assigned to CESEDEN, and thus the Escuela de Estado Mayor
Conjunto was created in order to train general staff officers from the
three Services to plan and conduct joint operations, as well as to
solve problems, Joint and Combined General Staffs are confronted
with.
Recent experiences have shown that Armed Forces activities, in
particular the operational ones, fall mainly within the joint and
combined scope. This fact requires a deep mutual knowledge and the
development of a real “joint spirit” for the Armed Forces members,
so that they can act as a single unit.
In September 1998, the Minister of Defence signed a Directive which
paved the way for the creation of a common staff college for the 3
Services
and
the
Guardia
Civil.
The
Directive
assigned
responsibilities and mandated that the first Staff Course of the Armed
Forces would commence in September the following year.
In September 1999, the opening ceremony of the first Staff Course
for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Guardia Civil marked the starting
point of the Escuela Superior de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESFAS).
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Additionally, the first Joint High Command Course for Senior
Officers for promotion to general officer rank also took place.
The Escuela de Estado Mayor Conjunto and three services General
Staff Colleges were replace by ESFAS, which was located in the
CESEDEN building.
The basic idea of the creation of ESFAS is to prepare officers to face
their responsibilities, not only within their own Service, but also in
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Joint and Combined Staffs and other national or international
security and defence organizations.
ESFAS MISSION
ESFAS is responsible for researching, analysing and publishing the
results of studies on joint and combined doctrines; delivering
courses to enable senior officers to carry out tasks of a general
officer. It is also responsible for delivering courses to prepare
officers of the three Services and the Guardia Civil to carry out tasks
in single service, joint and combined staffs, as well as in national or
international security and defence organizations.”
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In order to carry out its mission, ESFAS has the following
organization chart:
COMMANDANT
The Commandant of ESFAS is a Major General or Vice-Admiral,
assigned to the three services on a rotational basis
DIRECTOR OF STUDIES / ACADEMIC SECRETARIAT
The Director of Studies is a Brigadier General or Rear-Admiral and
from a different Service to that of the Commandant. Directly
subordinated to the Director of Studies, a Colonel is in charge of the
Academics
Secretariat,
which
is
responsible
for
planning,
scheduling, coordinating and monitoring the educational activities.
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DIRECTING STAFF
There are two types of instructors:
 Permanent instructors: staff graduate officers of the three
services and Guardia Civil, constitute the permanent cadre
of the College.
 Temporary instructors: as visiting lecturers, civilian and
military experts participate in the educational activity of the
College.
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COURSES
ESFAS is responsible for the delivery for the following courses:

Senior Command Course (CADCOG): a nine week course
aimed at preparing selected senior officers for promotion to
General (if eventually selected). Following the guidelines
established the Chief of the Defence Staff; the course is
divided into two phases, a Joint Phase, and a single Service
Phase. The curriculum includes Logistics, Organization,
Operational Art and Strategy.
The course normally runs from September to November as shown
below:
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 General Staff Course of the Armed Forces (CEMFAS): the
Course has a duration of one academic year (60 European
credits), running from September to June. A previous
preparation phase (e-learning) runs from April to June. It is
open to foreign students and is divided into three joint
phases and a specific single-Service phase. The phases are
divided
into
modules
by
subjects.
The
objectives,
methodology, programme and system of evaluation are
described bellow.
 Higher Intelligence Course (CSIFAS): the aim of this
course is to provide the knowledge about the Intelligence,
Counter Intelligence, Security and Operational Planning
needed to carry out duties in Intelligence Units, specific
centres, Joint and/or Combined Staffs of the Armed Forces.
The course is divided into two phases, a correspondence
course (3 months) and attendance course (6 months).
CEMFAS
Since the first course, 1179 officers from the Spanish Armed Forces
have been awarded their diplomas, with the ratio between the Armed
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Forces remaining similar. The number of CEMFAS graduates now
represents a significant percentage of all Armed Forces general staff
officers.
We are very proud of having trained 377 foreign officers from 38
countries around the World. The College has a real interest in
having international students from NATO and EU countries, Latin
America and the Mediterranean area, reflecting the main areas of
interest for Spain’s Foreign, Security and Defence Policies.
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As shown in the figure below, the participation of international
students has shown an upward trend and has helped to strengthen
friendship and cooperation with a great number of countries.
As previously mentioned, the General Staff Course is structured into
Phases and Modules, each one with its own objectives and contents.
ORGANIZATION
The Course Phases are as follows: 
Basic Phase. 
National Defence and Operations Planning Phase. 
Single Service Phase. 
Application Phase. 10
The modules are teaching blocks which fulfil many of the Learning
Objectives. Together, these Learning Objectives contribute in
achieving the general objectives of each module in which they are
scheduled.
The names of the modules are as follows:
:
 Module 1 – General.
 Module 2 – Security and Defence of the World.
 Module 3 – National Defence.
 Module 4 – Joint Operations 1.
st
 Module 5 – Organization and Plans.
 Module 6 – Force Preparation and Support.
 Module 7 – Use of Force.
 Module 8 – Joint Operations 2.
nd
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The distribution of the modules throughout the phases is shown in
the diagram below:
70 %
SIN
SINGLE SERVI
RVIC
C E PH A S E
FUNDAM
NDAMEN
ENTA
TAL
LS
WAR OPE
OPERAT
RATIONS
IONS
(OPE
(OPERAT
RATIONAL
IONAL LE
LEVE
VEL
L)
WORLD
WORLD
SECURIT
SECURITY
Y AND
AND
DEF
DEFENCE
PSO´s
PSO´s
NATIONAL
NATIONAL
DE
DEF
FENCE
NCE
COMMO
COMM
ON PHAS
ASE
E
20 %
JO
JOINT
INT COM
COMB
BINED
OPERATION
RATIONS
S
RE
RESOURCE
SOURCE
MANAGEME
NAGEMENT
OTHE
HER
RA
AC
CTIVI
TIVITI
TIES
ES
10 %
VISIT
SITS & TRAV
TRAVE
ELS
EXERCISES
During the General Staff Officers Course, operational planning
exercises are frequent. They are concentrated mainly the Single
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Service Phase and the Application Phase, as is shown in the diagram
below:
During the Single Service Phase, students are trained at the tactical
level within their respective component, whereas during the
Application Phase the knowledge gained in previous phases is
consolidated during 3 important joint exercises.
The first joint exercise is the crisis response exercise, where they
develop the Military Strategic Options and the Initiating Directive.
Immediately afterwards, using the same scenario, the students
participate in Combined Joint Europe Exercise (CJEX), a 12-day
exercise involving the Staff Colleges of France (CID), German
(FüAk), Italy (ISSMI) the United Kingdom (JSCSC) and Spain
(ESFAS). This exercise includes the exchange of students and
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instructors between the different Staff Colleges. They participate in a
group of activities, the most important being the Operational
planning of a Joint and Combined Peace Support Operation.
COMBINED JOINT EUROPE EXERCISE (CJEX)
CJEX has been carried out since 1999. In 2005 the Commandants of
the Staff Colleges signed a Statement of Agreement in order to
establish common objectives for the future.
At the end of the application phase, the students participate in a
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Computer Assisted Exercise (CAX) with the “Joint Theatre Level
Simulator” (JTLS), aimed at campaign synchronisation.
CONCLUSION
In this short time, the creation of ESFAS has proven to be a success
decision. After ten course, 1179 officers of the three services of the
Spanish Armed Forces and Guardia Civil can work together using
the same methods and procedures.
In addition an efficient network among personnel of the three
services is established during the course. This personal links are a
second
and
valuable
method
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of
solving
daily
problems
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