Africa Centre of Excellence (ACE) enables African governments to build military capability that they own, control, and can sustain. Our programmes develop leaders, units, and instructors within a single, structured pathway, so that national forces are equipped to protect their people, territory, and institutions without reliance on external actors.
Every engagement begins with the client’s own command structure, operational environment, and strategic priorities. Programmes are designed to be applied immediately and to endure beyond the period of ACE’s direct involvement, ensuring that investment in capability translates into lasting national strength.
Building Sovereign Military Capability:
Military capability is not a matter of equipment alone. It rests on the quality of leadership, the coherence of command, the competence of units, and the depth of the national training base that sustains them. Governments that outsource these foundations also outsource a measure of control over their own security. ACE works to reverse that dependency by developing capability within national institutions, aligned to national priorities and delivered under a recognised, consistent framework.
Our military capability development programmes span the full range of skills required by a modern force, which connects strategic, operational, and tactical development and allows clients to select the components most relevant to their requirements.
- Strategic Leadership Development
- Command and Control
- Counter-Terrorism Training
- Special Operations
- Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR)
- Train-the-Trainer
The strength of a national force is determined by how well its levels of command work together. Leaders who set direction, commanders who translate it into plans, and units who carry it out must operate from a shared understanding. ACE programmes are structured to create that alignment, reducing the gaps between intent and execution that most often undermine operational effectiveness.
Programmes Designed Around Your Forces:
No two armed forces face the same threats, operate within the same structures, or hold the same priorities. For that reason, ACE does not deliver standardised, off-the-shelf training. We work with the client to understand the force’s composition, mandate, and operating context before any programme is defined, then design content, sequencing, and delivery to match. This ensures that training is relevant, credible to participants, and directly applicable to real requirements.
Sustaining Capability Over Time:
Capability that depends on continued external delivery is capability held on loan. ACE’s objective is to leave national institutions able to train, assess, and develop their own personnel. Through structured instructor development and clear programme design, we help clients build a training base that can maintain standards, adapt to changing threats, and continue to grow.
- Programmes are shaped around the client's command structure, operating environment, and strategic priorities, rather than adapted from a generic model.
- Training connects strategic, operational, and tactical levels into one pathway, so that development at each level reinforces the others.
- Train-the-Trainer equips national instructors to deliver and sustain programmes independently, building long-term institutional capacity.
ACE develops senior and mid-level leaders who can plan, decide, and command with confidence under pressure. Programmes draw on the experience of ACE’s leadership and advisory team, bringing senior military and security perspectives to every cohort. The emphasis is on sound judgement, accountability, and the ability to align an institution behind a clear objective.
Operational training prepares units to work together under clear command and coordinated planning. It links decision-making at headquarters to action in the field, strengthening the handoffs between planning, direction, and execution. Participants practise integrating roles and resources to deliver a unified operational effect.
Our Train-the-Trainer approach prepares national instructors to design and deliver programmes themselves. Instructors are developed in both subject expertise and teaching method, so that standards are maintained consistently over time. The outcome is a self-sustaining training base owned by the client.
