Which plan contains the Commander-in-Chief's strategic concept necessary to initiate and complete planning?

• A. OPLAN
• B. FUNCPLAN
• C. CONPLAN
• D. Strategic Plan

Answer: (C)

The plan that carries the commander’s strategic concept to start and guide the planning effort is the CONPLAN. It is a concept plan that expresses the commander's overall approach, end state, major tasks, and possible courses of action for a potential operation. This provides the initial guidance and framework needed to initiate planning and develop more detailed plans. It isn’t a fully executable, time-phased operation plan yet—that role belongs to an OPLAN once the concept is refined and the details are solidified. A FUNCPLAN focuses on a specific functional area, not the entire operation concept, and a Strategic Plan sits at a higher-level, broader strategic level rather than outlining a specific potential operation. So the CONPLAN best matches the idea of capturing the strategic concept to initiate and complete planning.