CS2 (combat support)

CS2 is a NATO military abbreviation that stands for combat support. It appears in the NATO Glossary of NATO Acronyms and Abbreviations as the entry "CS2, combat support", and NATO attributes that entry to AAP-06, its terminology publication. You can check the entry in the NATO acronym glossary.

In operational use, combat support refers to the support capabilities that enable combat forces to carry out operations. Other NATO material uses the unnumbered form CS for the same idea. For Canadian suppliers, the term matters mostly because it shapes how defence requirements, equipment and NATO documents are described.

How NATO records the CS2 abbreviation

The acronym glossary is one of NATO's reference documents for standard abbreviations. The CS2 entry gives a single meaning, combat support, and points to AAP-06 as the source. NATO also maintains NATOTerm, its official database of non-classified military and other NATO-relevant terminology. The NATO Terminology Office, part of the NATO Standardization Office, maintains it.

Suppliers who read NATO or allied documents will see the abbreviation in several forms. CS2 is the form listed in the glossary, and CS is the form that appears in related logistics material.

Combat support and combat service support

NATO logistics material pairs Combat Support (CS) with Combat Service Support (CSS) and treats them as distinct categories. The NATO logistics handbook discusses releasing deployed CS and CSS resources for higher-priority tasks.

• CS covers support capabilities that enable combat forces to conduct operations.
• CSS is the separate combat service support category that appears alongside it.

When you read a requirement, check which of the two categories it names, because the abbreviations are not interchangeable.

Combat support equipment in Canadian defence procurement

In Canadian procurement, the idea of combat support shows up mainly through equipment and platforms. The Department of National Defence uses the expression armoured combat support vehicles (ACSVs). According to National Defence procurement disclosure, these vehicles support operations in high-threat environments. The variants cover command post, ambulance, mobile repair, vehicle recovery and engineering support.

Public Services and Procurement Canada awarded a contract on behalf of National Defence to General Dynamics Land Systems–Canada for 360 armoured combat support vehicles. The contract also included initial spare parts, technical manuals and training, as described in the PSPC defence procurement briefing. The scope shows that a combat support buy can extend beyond vehicles to the support package around them.

Finding NATO and federal opportunities

CanadaBuys publishes federal tender opportunities, and PSPC, DND and other government organizations use it. It also makes NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) solicitations available to Canadian businesses. Businesses must register to work with NSPA, as explained in the CanadaBuys guidance on searching tender opportunities. DND also provides a page of information for companies.

What CS2 means for a supplier

CS2 is a terminology entry, not a procurement procedure or a supplier certification. A bid team should treat it as a label for a category of military support and read the solicitation itself for the obligations. Those obligations come from the statement of work, the technical specifications, any NATO standardization requirements and the platform requirements. When a tender or NATO document uses CS, CS2 or CSS, confirm which support category it names and match your offer to the stated requirements.