Plan Components
A Campaign Plan is a plan for all forces participating in a JTF and typically covers a 6 month period. An air plan, for the Air Force, also covers a 6 month period. The Air Tasking Order (ATO), or battle plan, takes 36 hours to produce and covers 24 hours. Mission plans are derived from the ATO; a mission plan constitutes the directions for a specific sortie. Pilots then develop an engagement plan, which specifies the maneuvers that will be used to execute the mission plan.Preparation for planning
Once a crisis occurs, the CINC assesses the situation, selects a Course of Action (COA) and may decide to establish at JTF. Then a warning order is given, normally 3 days in advance of the commencement of operations. Operations are initiated by a further order from the CINC, known as the operations order. When a crisis occurs and the CINC decides to take some action, the CINC will provide planning guidance to the Joint Forces Commander (JFC). The guidance can take several forms including:- Situation assessment of friendly and opposing forces
- Resources allocated
- Mission and Military Objectives
- Rules of Engagement
- Policies
- Political Issues
- Potential problems with weather
- Potential problems with crisis in other theaters
Guidance is given throughout the planning process by every level of command. Although the guidance is considered more of an order than a suggestion, negotiation does take place. If a commanding officer wants to establish objectives or goals that are unreasonable, then participants of the planning process have the responsibility for convincing the commanding officer to take a different approach. For example, the planners may want more time. But, to buy time in a crisis, something diplomatic has to be given up. The commanding officer may not be willing to make a diplomatic sacrifice. In some such situations, the commanding officer will enforce the initial guidance; in other cases, the initial guidance may be relaxed. Rules of Engagement are never negotiable, however.
Initial planning steps include assessing the situation and organizing the planning staff. Assessing the situation involves identifying enemy COGs and air defenses as well as determining a method (strategy), goals and targets. A lot of knowledge about the theater is needed. Typically the planning staff has been studying the theater for years. The types of information they know are whether the enemy has nuclear weapons, the nature of the crisis, and the history of the conflict. The planning staff have, and use, many maps with different perspectives of the theater. These maps give the staff valuable insight into the theater and what is possible.
When the planners cannot find the needed details, they will rely on contacts with people who have the information or can get the information. Typically these are intelligence people on the planning team. Missions may be conducted to find the needed information. Planners are always skeptical of intelligence data; for example, databases are never fully populated ed and are continuously being updated. The planners will use data more current than what is in the target database if the planning staff has access to the data. It's also impossible to prove the accuracy of intelligence data, because INTEL (the intelligence group) must protect their sources; however, duplication of INTEL effort between different branches, which is encouraged, may corroborate information or provide additional information.
Usually, the
right information gets to the right person eventually. Tracking down
information is not always conventional, easy or practical. It often
depends on who you know or how much ingenuity is used to get the
information. The planners may not get some needed information for 3 days, so
they will make assumptions and move to the next step.
The planning staff hold 4-hourly meetings to discuss progress, obtain a
consensus of opinion, and to make sure that there is a smooth
transition between phases. The latter is very important, since it is
imperative that friendly forces are not
perceived by the enemy as being indecisive. Planning teams normally work 8-hour
shifts; in a crisis, the planning team work overlapping 12-hour shifts.
Planning consists of three stages:
Interaction with land forces gives the relevant land forces rights to view the
Master Air Attack plan, for the sake of deconfliction of operations.
It's important to note that the planning process does not always continue
until each stage is fully completed. Often, the planning staff may only be
75% finished with some activities when it is time to move on to the next
stage.
However, the dynamic environment makes it difficult to complete a stage
without the situation changing simultaneously. The time spent on any one task
depends on the situation.
The JFACC will not want to be involved in the planning process except for a
daily briefing to make sure that guidance has been communicated correctly.
The lack of involvement from the JFACC is deliberate, to foster openness and
innovation. The air planning team does not communicate with other branches
either, in order to enhance creativity. Keeping the number of participants
involved in the detailed planning to a minimum reduces the constraints of
reconciling too many points of view.
Figure 1:Enriched organizational model: perspectives and
cross-products
The Dictionary perspectives are simply sets of activities (or agents or
resources) which are used as a basis for building the other perspectives. The
Network perspectives show how entities of the same type relate to one
another:
Further details on each perspective will be given in the next section.
Figure 3: ACP Process Perspective: Prepare for ACP Planning
Description of Activities:
Obtain policy and guidance from CinC/JFC: The JFACC must receive
instructions, and guidance on military and political policy, before he can
initiate the planning of an air campaign.
Organize planning staff: The Director of Planning divides his planning
staff into small groups to work on different aspects of the plan. Typically,
the groups will be pairs, with one member of the Planning unit working with
one member of the INTEL unit.
Assess situation: Assess the military (and political) situation, using
background information and local knowledge.
Identify campaign objectives and military objectives: The JFACC must
identify campaign objectives and military objectives from the policy and
guidance which he has received from higher echelons. It's actually possible
that the JFACC might negotiate these objectives, though it's unlikely until
the later stages of planning, when there may be a good case for the
negotiation of objectives.
Decide on enemy's most likely course of action: The JFACC must decide
on the enemy's most likely course of
action. This requires background knowledge as well as a good assessment of the
current situation.
Subdivide the planning problem: The production of the ACP is subdivided
to allow different planning groups to work on different aspects of the
problem. The subdivision will use one or more of the following criteria:
Assuming that the planning staff breaks the plan down by phase, the way
phases are broken down depends on the experience of the staff and the
personalities involved. The team will determine how to split people
between the phases. The first phase almost always has priority, because phase
1 of a plan is used to gain control of the crisis, stabilize the situation and
set up for the next phases. The team will also establish metrics for
evaluation of the effectiveness of a phase; the metrics may include cost,
logistics, intelligence reports, and resources.
Obtain feedback on situation: This activity is not explicitly
carried out as part of the planning process, which explains why it is not
linked to any other activity. Doug thinks it should be carried out, though.
Figure 5: ACP Process Perspective: Produce Prioritized Air Objectives
Description of activities:
Identify enemy Centres of Gravity (in each sub-area): This activity is
carried out by each planning team, each of whom is assigned to a particular
sub-area (see Subdivide planning problem above). Their task is to
analyze the enemy's military forces, infrastructure, and limitations.
This information is continuously updated throughout the planning, because the
position of the enemy is constantly changing.
The planning staff will find intelligence documents and books for details.
The planners will look at cultural issues, the enemy's intent, how many
weapons the enemy has, how the enemy works and how the enemy hides their
resources.
The planners then
use this analysis to identify key points in enemy territory which, if
damaged or destroyed, would seriously disrupt the enemy's military operations.
These key points are known as Centres of Gravity.
For example, the staff will want to know the most likely
situation if the enemy troops loose their command and control. Some troops
are trained to not think on their own so loss of command and control would
result in immediate chaos. In this situation, enemy command and control
centres would be considered to be centers of gravity.
Identify air objectives (for each sub-area): This activity is carried
out by each planning team, each of whom is assigned to a particular sub-area
(see Subdivide planning problem above). Their task is to identify
objectives for the air forces to achieve. These objectives should be chosen to
provide maximum benefit to the friendly forces (with respect to the identified
military objectives), based on the situation
assessment, the expected enemy course of action, and above all on the
description of enemy Centres of Gravity.
Planners usually take a breadth-first approach to the identification of
air objectives.
A good description of different categories of air objectives can be found in
[Warden, 1989].
Identify own Centres of Gravity: This is an activity which is not
currently performed (and therefore it is not linked to the other activities in
the diagram). However, Doug believes that it should be performed, in order to
support strategic planning for defense as well as attack.
Prioritize Air Objectives: This requires decisions about which air
objectives are the most important. The key factors in this decision are the
Centers of Gravity which are targeted, and the campaign objectives and
military objectives. However, a number of factors make this a complex task:
the time delay between missions taking place and the enemy's capabilities
being affected; the possibility that some missions could achieve more than
one air objective; and limitations on the resources available for carrying out
certain types of missions.
Finally review and unify lists of objectives: This activity takes place
at a meeting where, as the name suggests, the air objectives identified and
prioritized by the different planning teams are brought together and unified
into a single prioritized list of air objectives. The reviewing is an
important activity, because it is intended to identify any enemy Centres of
Gravity or likely enemy activity which is not addressed by any of the
identified air objectives.
Brief JFACC and Obtain feedback from JFACC on Air Objectives: The
JFACC is briefed every day, usually at a set time. On the first day of
planning, he will be briefed on the chosen list of air objectives, with
justifications for prioritization. He will give feedback on his opinion of the
air objectives, especially their relevance to the campaign objectives and
military objectives; he may also give specific instructions for modifications,
based on his knowledge of operations which the Director of Planning is not
aware of.
Figure 7: ACP Process Perspective: Produce Prioritized Targets
Description of activities:
One of the main
discoveries from this modelling exercise has been that the processes involved
in producing prioritized air objectives, producing prioritized task objectives
and producing a prioritized target list are very similar. The text below
should therefore be read in conjunction with the description of activities
involved in producing prioritized air objectives.
Identify enemy Centers of Gravity (in a way which is specific to target identification): Although the air
objectives have already been designed to target enemy Centers of Gravity, it's
helpful to review the Centers of Gravity at this stage of planning. No
information has yet been acquired on any special features of Centers of
Gravity which are specific to target identification.
Identify targets: Identifying targets consists of choosing targets
which provide the maximum fulfilment of the task objectives, based on the task
objectives chosen and on identified enemy Centres of Gravity.
Prioritize targets should largely be based on the prioritization of
corresponding task objectives. In practice, the planners spend a lot of time
discussing the list of targets and moving certain targets up or down the
prioritization; this action effectively incorporates the review and
unification of the target list.
Analyze feasibility of plan is a computerized process. The format of
the output is not yet known.
Brief JFACC and Obtain feedback from JFACC on Targets: see
description of Obtain feedback from JFACC on Task Objectives above.
Planning
At this point, the staff is
organized according to plan alternatives. During this step, and throughout
the planning process, air planners are searching for alternatives,
vulnerabilities, consequences and contingencies.
The planners may consider alternative situations (the best case, worst case,
or most likely case) based on the enemy's predicted course of action; however,
the planning team usually consists of 8 people, which is only sufficient
to plan for one situation (the most likely case) and look very
hard at one other alternative (probably the worst case). There are usually
no more people available.
Doug mentioned a few factors which are considered at each stage:
Introduction to the modelling technique used
The modelling technique used to model the ACP process was based on the
The CommonKADS Organizational Model
The stated aim of modelling the ACP process was to perform a ``task
analysis'' of the ACP process. However, after initial domain familiarization
it was felt that there was considerable benefit to be gained from producing an
a paper produced by
the KRSL Plans Working Group, I have chosen to use
the term ``activities'' throughout this document.),
Enriching the CommonKADS Organizational Model for the ACP domain
The process of domain familiarization also showed that some aspects of the
organization surrounding ACP -- in
particular, power/authority relationships -- would benefit from being
represented in more detail than the CommonKADS Organizational Model currently
permits. It was decided that the multi-perspective approach to organizational
modelling would be maintained, but that the perspectives would be altered to
permit the representation of rights of access to resources and
information, and the representation of who was responsible for performing
which activities. The result was that a set of perspectives were developed
based on three basic entities: activities, agents and
resources.(N.B.
This distinction was derived from the ORDIT
project which is intended to support organizational requirements definition
[Dobson and Strens, 1994].).
Figure 2 shows the perspectives which were used, and how they
were combined.
The Cross Product perspectives show how resources are produced, used,
consumed or modified within the process (Assets perspective, what rights
agents have to resources (Rights perspective), and the obligations and
responsibilities to perform activities and to create states of affairs (
Responsibilities perspective). Organizational Model of the ACP process
Process Perspective
Figures 2 to 8 show the activities involved in ACP, and how these activities
link to form processes. The six diagrams are a hierarchical decomposition:
Figure 2 is the top level diagram, figures 3, 4 and 8 show decompositions of
three
top-level activities (Prepare for ACP planning, Plan Air Campaign and Execute Air Campaign
Plan), and figures 5-7 show second-level decompositions of activities
connected with prioritization within the planning process.
</b>: The Commander in Chief analyzes the
political and military situation.
<p><b>Select Course of Action</b>: The CinC selects a course of action for the US
military forces to pursue.
<p><b>Form Joint Task Force</b>: A joint task force is formed.
<p><b>Delegate campaign planning</b>: The task of campaign planning is delegated
to the various Joint Force component commanders (e.g. the JFACC).
<p><b>Prepare for ACP planning</b>: The situation is assessed, the planning
team is organized and the planning problem is subdivided between them See
figure 3 for more detail on this activity.
<p><b>Produce Air Campaign Plan</b>: The air campaign is planned. This
activity can be viewed in more detail in figure 4.
<p><b>Execute Air Campaign Plan</b>: The air campaign plan is carried out. This
activity can be viewed in more detail in figure 8.
<hr>
<img src=)
Line type
Meaning
Solid link
the first activity precedes the second
 situation, using
background information and local knowledge.
<p><b>Identify campaign objectives and military objectives</b>: The JFACC must
identify campaign objectives and military objectives from the policy and
guidance which he has received from higher echelons. It's actually possible
that the JFACC might negotiate these objectives, though it's unlikely until
the later stages of planning, when there may be a good case for the
negotiation of objectives.
<p><b>Decide on enemy's most likely course of action</b>: The JFACC must decide
on the enemy's most likely course of
action. This requires background knowledge as well as a good assessment of the
current situation.
<p><b>Subdivide the planning problem</b>: The production of the ACP is subdivided
to allow different planning groups to work on different aspects of the
problem. The subdivision will use one or more of the following criteria:
<ul>
<li> Phase of the conflict (the most popular way);
<li> Classes of air objectives (air superiority, interdiction, reconnaissance, etc.);
<li> Centers of gravity;
<li> Geographical area.
</ul>
<p>
Assuming that the planning staff breaks the plan down by phase, the way
phases are broken down depends on the experience of the staff and the
personalities involved. The team will determine how to split people
between the phases. The first phase almost always has priority, because phase
1 of a plan is used to gain control of the crisis, stabilize the situation and
set up for the next phases. The team will also establish metrics for
evaluation of the effectiveness of a phase; the metrics may include cost,
logistics, intelligence reports, and resources.
<p><b>Produce prioritized air objectives</b>: This activity can be viewed in more
detail in Figure 5.
<p><b>Review enemy course of action</b>: This activity is <b>not</b> currently
carried out explicitly, although Doug thinks it should be.
<p><b>Produce task objectives</b>: This activity can be viewed in more
detail in Figure 6.
<p><b>Brief CJTF</b>: The JFACC explains the objectives and the current state of
the campaign plan. The CJTF is likely to provide feedback, saying that the
plan has been prepared incorrectly, or that there are further instructions
which
the planners need to take into account. These instructions might be
``coordinate better with land forces'', ``the President says don't attack
within 50 miles of the enemy capital city'', or ``deconflict your plan with
SOF''.
<p><b>Produce Prioritized Target List</b>: This activity can be viewed in more
detail in Figure 7.
<p><b>Communicate plan to subordinates</b>: This requires the formal plan to be
distributed to squadrons. Communicating the plan is not difficult, but
there is no way to communicate strategy down the echelons of the Air Force.
Pilots are often given the wrong target for any number of
reasons, so it is natural for them to question unusual targets; if the pilots
had a concept of the strategy they may not question their assignment. An
example of this which occurred during Desert Storm was that pilots were
ordered to attack transformers of power stations, in order to support the
political objective that Iraq should be able to recover quickly after the war,
as well as the task objective of disrupting power supplies.
However, some pilots observed that the transformers were adjacent to large and
vulnerable power stations, assumed that a small mistake had been made in their
orders, and attacked the power stations instead.
<hr>
<img src=){kind=spacer}
Line type
Meaning
Solid link
the first activity precedes the second
Dashed link
there is an information flow from the first activity to
the second
</b>: Identifying task
objectives for the air force to
achieve consists of choosing task objectives which provide the
maximum fulfilment of the air objectives, based on the air objectives chosen
and on identified enemy Centers of Gravity.
For example, if ``disrupt command and control'' had been specified as an Air
Objective, possible task objectives might include:
<ul>
<li> attack command posts
<li> attack lines of communication
<li> jam radios
<li> kill men by attaching barracks
<li> isolate men
<li> isolate roads
<li> destroy communication centers
</ul>
N.B. The term ``task objective'' is comparatively new; the term ``Course of
Action'' may also be heard, describing the same objectives.
<p><b>Prioritize task objectives</b> is largely based on the prioritization of
corresponding air objectives, although there may be other influences if
certain task objectives can fulfil more than one air objective.
<p><b>Finally review and unify lists of tasks</b> occurs at a meeting, to bring
together all the task objectives in a single list and to ensure that all air
objectives are addressed by task objectives.
<p><b>Brief JFACC</b> and <b> Obtain feedback from JFACC on Task Objectives</b>:
The JFACC's second briefing normally describes both identified task objectives
and identified targets, since the identification of task objectives is a
relatively quick task. However, significant feedback may well be produced,
enough for the planning staff to require a third day of planning to
iteratively refine the lists of objectives and targets to meet the JFACC's
requirements.
<hr>
<img src=)
Line type
Meaning
Solid link
the first activity precedes the second
Dashed link
there is an information flow from the first activity to
the second
 and required munitions for each target. The DMPI
specifies the best weapons for a
target, the exact angle the target should be hit and the exact location
that the target should be hit. This activity is carried out by the Ops group at
the Air Operations Center.
<p><b>Schedule Target List</b>: determine when each target should be attacked.
This will depend on both the priority of the target and the availability of
suitable aircraft. This is also carried out by the AOC Ops group, using a
system known as CTEMS. The result
of this is the Air Tasking Order, which is the document which is passed to the
Wings. <p>
In the course of refining the air campaign plan, the Ops group sometimes find and report
anomalies in the plan.
<p><b>Produce Mission Plan</b>: The Wings (and/or???) the squadron leaders are
responsible for planning how their mission(s) should be accomplished at the
required time(s).
<p><b>Fly mission</b>: Once the aircraft are airborne, responsibility for the
mission passes to the flight leaders. If
changes to the ATO occur at this stage (e.g. a sudden change in weather), the Ops group at the Air Operations
Center will communicate directly with the flight
leader.
<p><b>Report results</b>: Once the mission is completed, the fliers are
required to report their results to help in gauging the success of a mission.
<hr>
<a name=)
Structure Perspective
Doug Holmes highlighted a difficulty with modelling the structure of a Joint
Forces Command; sometimes the CinC chooses to adjust the structure according
to his own preferences. To be more precise, the CinC may alter the lines of
authority or reporting requirements, in order to improve his own liaison with
selected groups or individuals. For more detail on these alterations, see
section Rights
Figure 10: Structure of a typical Joint Task Force
| Line type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Solid link | the first agent reports to the second |
| Dashed link | the agent belongs to the department |
In addition to the information shown in this diagram, Doug explained the operational sequence within the Air Operations Center when an ACP has to be produced. The INTEL group, who gather information constantly, are assigned to work with the Planning group (typically in pairs) on various sub-parts of the planning problem. Redundancy (two pairs working on the same problem) is very rare. The parts of the plan are unified by the head of the Planning group (Director of Planning), who briefs the JFACC at various stages of the planning cycle. The completed plan is then passed to the Ops group, who perform the activities shown in Figure 8.
 or air objectives.
<p><b>Situation Assessment</b> is usually comparatively short in its written
form; perhaps a paragraph in a document, or the first 2 slides in a briefing.
The format varies between different operational theaters; in some cases, this
assessment will be incorporated into the formal air campaign plan.
<p><b>Campaign Objectives and Military Objectives</b> do not usually appear ina
document these days; instead, they appear in the Objectives Viewer of ACPT
(the Air Campaign Planning Tool). However, a slot for these objectives appears
in formal campaign planning templates, so if ACPT did not exist, a
document describing these objectives would be produced.
<p><b>Most likely enemy action</b>: This is typically represented in note form,
although it would be advantageous if it were made more formal.
<p><b>Rationale for subdivision</b>: This does <b> not</b> currently exist, although it should.
<p><b>Description of enemy Centers of Gravity</b>: These are defined within ACPT.
ACPT makes use of 2 input forms:
<ol>
<li> The Centers of Gravity, which are outlined in [Warden, 1995];
<li> The ACPT Rationale editor, where statements of the following form are
made: <p>
The plan includes an <i>air objective</i> FOR <i>centre of gravity</i>
BECAUSE OF <i>documents</i> (cut-and-pasted)
</ol>
Sometimes the ACPT Rationale Editor is not used, since it is considered to be
implicit in the ACPT Objectives Editor.
<p><b>Prioritized Air Objectives List</b>: Not all formal ACPs include this list,
although Doug said that if he were a JFACC, he'd want this list on a daily
basis.
<p><b>Chosen subdivisions</b> exist in ACPT.
<hr>
<img src=)
</td>
<tr>
<td>Link with white circle</td>
<td>the agent is <i>obliged</i> to perform the activity</td>
</table>
</center>
<p>
<hr>
<a name=)
 Hierarchy of Air Campaign Planning Tasks<p>
The comments which led to this rationalization included:
)
Assess situation and Brief CJTF are aspects of the same process"