BRITISH MILITARY DOCTRINE & THE MANOEUVRIST APPROACH TO OPERATIONS

AIM The aim is to explain the British Armed Forces way of thinking when fighting its wars in order that all Officers adopt the same approach

BRIEFING
Background Hierarchy of Doctrine The New Thinking Attacking the Enemys Will & Cohesion The OODA Loop The Manoeuvrist Approach The Core Functions of Find, Fix & Strike Deep, Close & Rear Operations Summary

BACKGROUND
What is Doctrine?
To analyse and record accumulated military experience is to produce doctrine Influence of Bagnell in 1989

THE HIERARCHY OF DOCTRINE

Design for Military Operations: The British Military Doctrine

British Defence Doctrine Army Doctrine Publications Army Field Manuals

STRATEGIC

OPERATIONAL

TACTICAL

THE NEW THINKING

Shift away from destroying to defeating Think in terms of defeat not destroy Attack the enemys will to fight Deprive enemy of his will to fight Work on what your enemy thinks is happening Deprive the enemy of his will to resist

ATTACKING THE ENEMYS WILL

Pre-Emption Dislocation Disruption

PRE-EMPTION
Deny the enemy the ability to gather his strength
Strike at him early Do not allow him to concentrate his forces Do not allow him to deliver instructions

DISLOCATION
Deny the enemy the ability to bring his strength to bear
Avoid his strengths Prevent him exploiting his strengths Drag him into arena of your choice Frustrate his plans Avoid attritionalist tendency to fight like with like Functional or positional dislocation

DISRUPTION
Attack the enemy selectively to break apart his assets and cause confusion Break the enemys ability to...
To select and maintain his aim To concentrate his force To maintain his morale

ATTACKING THE ENEMYS COHESION

Firepower Tempo Simultaneity Surprise

FIREPOWER
Shatter the enemys moral & physical cohesion

TEMPO
How quickly a task can be completed and another started. Fast turn around of missions, plans and orders. Disruption and chaos caused

SIMULTANEITY
So many things are happening to the enemy at any one time that he overloads and makes wrong decisions

SURPRISE
Forces the enemy to make uneconomic use of time by disrupting his cohesion

The synergy of these 4 facets with each other creates a situation where the enemy cannot cope. Key is to present enemy with unexpected changes with which he cannot cope

Achieved by adherence to the OODA cycle

THE OODA LOOP

Observe

Action

Orientate

Decide

THE MANOEUVRIST APPROACH

A warfighting philosophy A whole way of going about business Opposite of attritional approach Emphasis on physical activity Mental activity required to outwit How we approach operations
Put concepts into practice through...

THE CORE FUNCTIONS

Find Fix Strike

FIND
Locating the enemy Identifying the enemy Assessing strength of enemy

FIXING
Denying the enemy his goals Distracting the enemy from his objectives Depriving enemy of his freedom of action

STRIKING
Manoeuvring into position of advantage Threaten or hit the enemy Analogy with surface & gaps Flow around surfaces/Enemy strengths Pour through gaps/Enemy weaknesses Hit with superior & unexpected force Give enemy no respite

Operations to find, fix and strike may be simultaneous and must be integrated.

Integrated and organised within a framework of Deep, Close & Rear Operations

DEEP OPERATIONS
Fix the enemy Keep him from his objectives Constrain his freedom of action 3 principal activities Deception Deep surveillance/Target acquisition Interdiction Focus on enemys vulnerabilities

CLOSE OPERATIONS
Strike the enemy to eliminate combat power Concerned with winning current battles Direct contact with enemy

REAR OPERATIONS
Freedom of action by protecting own force Sustaining own force in combat Retain freedom of movement for reserves

SUMMARY
Avoid enemy strengths and attack weakness Focus on enemy rather than ground Seek to defeat him by attacking his will Act more quickly than enemy can react Do the unexpected

THE MANOEUVRIST APPROACH

To defeat
rather than destroy pre-emption dislocation disruption firepower tempo simultaneity surprise find fix strike deep close rear

by attacking the enemys will

and cohesion employing the Core Functions in a framework of operations

QUESTIONS