Permanent Joint Headquarters

The Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) is the British Ministry of Defence's worldwide operations command centre. It provides 'politically aware' military advice to the MOD and commands Joint and Combined military operations.

Activities

PJHQ was set up in 1996 and is 'at the forefront of work throughout British Defence to further improve joint operational capability'. Its mission is summarised as follows:

• As part of the Defence Crisis Management Organisation, provide politically aware military advice to the MOD to inform the strategic commitment of UK forces to overseas Joint and Combined operations

• When directed by the Chief of Defence Staff, exercise operational command of UK forces assigned to overseas Joint and Combined operations, either led by the UK or another nation, in order to achieve MOD UK's strategic objectives

• In conjunction with the Front Line Commands and MOD, develop the UK's Joint warfighting capability. The HQ has some 588 personnel from the 3 Services and the Civil Service. The HQ is responsible for directing, deploying, sustaining and recovering UK joint forces, however, there are certain areas that the HQ will not be involved. These are: Strategic Nuclear Deterrent; Defence of the UK Home Base Territorial Waters and Airspace Northern Ireland Counter-terrorism in UK; NATO Article V (General War)

Contact

Northwood HQ

Sandy Lane

NORTHWOOD

Middlesex, HA6 3HP

Phone:

Email:

Website:http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/DoctrineOperationsandDiplomacy/PJHQ/ThePermanentJointHeadquarterspjhq.htm