UNSC Joint Forces Command

The UNSC Joint Forces Command, colloquially known as the UNSC Joint Command (JOINTCOM), is the most senior agency within the UNSC Defense Force. As the centralized command organization of the Defense Force, JOINTCOM has executive supervision and control of the five UNSC uniformed military services: the Air Force, the Army, the Marine Corps, the Navy, and the Office of Naval Intelligence.

In its present capacity, JOINTCOM coordinates and synchronizes all multi-service campaigns, leading all major campaigns and operations that require command and control of units from multiple uniformed services. All surface maneuvers and actions above the Division level are doctrinally deferred to JOINTCOM. Furthermore, JOINTCOM sets the long-term strategic direction of the Defense Force, thus subsuming the responsibility of the former UNSC Strategic Command.

JOINTCOM exercises strategic command at multiple levels: astrographical sectors, the planetary theater of operations, and the continental/regional theater of operations (sub-planetary level). As of the reorganization of the Defense Force in 2553, the primary land combat formation of each regional theater of operations generally includes two Army Corps (commanded by a General) and one Marine Expeditionary Force (commanded by a Lieutenant General), supported by Air Force atmospheric assets. At the regional theater of operations level, there exists a Joint Operations Group (JOG) administered by JOINTCOM; the JOG is commanded by a General who exercises strategic command of the theater’s fighting forces during planetary conflict. The commander of each regional JOG is the “Joint Theater Commander”.

A recent incorporation in the force structure of the Defense Force is the inclusion of “enhanced capabilities control” (ECC). ECC provides centralized fire support at the multi-service level (JOG/regional theater) to the battalion level. ECC includes all artillery, low-altitude aircraft, and high-altitude aircraft, and unconventional warfare fires (psychological, electronic warfare, and cyber warfare), allowing even battalion-size units to be augmented with “enhanced capabilities” in order to support them. This has led to the concept of the “battalion task force” or “battlegroup” where even infantry battalions are upgraded to combined arms forces invested with armor and air assets.