Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations written by Antulio J. Echevarria (II) and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technological innovation plays a paradoxical role in military transformation. With each problem it solves, technological innovation tends to introduce new challenges or complications. Operational concepts can partly reconcile these tensions by finding the optimal balance between technological strengths and weaknesses. In so doing, they perform two vital functions (integrating and stimulating) for military transformation ..."--Page v.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations A Flawed Concept written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines serious weaknesses with U.S. Joint Forces Command's Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) concept that, unless modified, will adversely affect its chances for successful application. Overall, RDO provides a deceptively simple, single correct answer to the complex issue of responding to small-scale contingencies. That single correct answer is: the employment of physical coercion, through integrated joint tactical actions, by a standing joint headquarters to rapidly achieve decisive outcomes. In addition to a flawed overall notion, the basic elements of RDO are faulty. This paper focuses on the mismatch between the key elements of RDO: coercion, rapidity, and decisiveness. It will show that military outcomes are unlikely to be rapid or decisive, even when coerced. The characteristics of military operations, combined with the complexities of social and human behavior, make the nature of war too complicated to support achieving rapid results. In addition, military success on the battlefield is not sufficient for ultimate victory. Military operations can only bring the nation to a point short of victory. At that point, the military must have created the conditions that allow the other elements of power to finish the job.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations RDO written by Brian P. Stephenson and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) represent a revolutionary approach that differs from the way the United States has executed other small scale contingencies in the past? Does it offer value-added worth investment as the new Joint Doctrinal Concept to implement Joint Vision 2020? This document used two small scale contingencies, Operation Just Cause (Panama) and Operation Allied Force (Kosovo), to answer these two questions. Each operation was analyzed using three criteria: geo-strategic factors, friendly and enemy capabilities and limitations, and application of the four elements of national power (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic - DIME). The outcomes of these case studies were evaluated against the outcomes desired by successful RDO. The conclusions are that RDO is a useful concept for experimentation of future joint concepts but not the tool to fully operationalize JV 2020. The strength of RDO lies not in applying the complete concept to only high-end' small scale contingencies, but to extract many of the RDO sub-component concepts to full spectrum joint operations.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations RDO written by Brian P. Stephenson and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) represent a revolutionary approach that differs from the way the United States has executed other small scale contingencies in the past? Does it offer value-added worth investment as the new Joint Doctrinal Concept to implement Joint Vision 2020? This document used two small scale contingencies, Operation Just Cause (Panama) and Operation Allied Force (Kosovo), to answer these two questions. Each operation was analyzed using three criteria: geo-strategic factors, friendly and enemy capabilities and limitations, and application of the four elements of national power (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic - DIME). The outcomes of these case studies were evaluated against the outcomes desired by successful RDO. The conclusions are that RDO is a useful concept for experimentation of future joint concepts but not the tool to fully operationalize JV 2020. The strength of RDO lies not in applying the complete concept to only high-end' small scale contingencies, but to extract many of the RDO sub-component concepts to full spectrum joint operations.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations written by Antulio Joseph Echevarria and published by Strategic Studies Institute. This book was released on 2001 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technological innovation plays a paradoxical role in military transformation. With each problem it solves, technological innovation tends to introduce new challenges or complications. Operational concepts can partly reconcile these tensions by finding the optimal balance between technological strengths and weaknesses. In so doing, they perform two vital functions (integrating and stimulating) for military transformation ..."--Page v.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations written by David R. Hogg and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the concept of Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) and seeks to answer the question of whether or not Rapid Decisive Operations is an achievable concept for the establishment of future Joint Warfighting Doctrine. This study starts with a detailed look at what Rapid Decisive Operations is, what it hopes to accomplish, and what important assumptions are being made in developing this concept. The viability of the Rapid Decisive Operations concept will be based on the criteria of acceptability, feasibility, suitability and risk. This paper will show that Rapid Decisive Operations is the beginning of a new Joint doctrine/concept of warfighting that has the potential of developing a Joint team with a shared training, education and military culture. A doctrine/concept that should embed Jointness within all of the Services as the United States continues to transform its military forces to meet future threats. But, much like the search for the elusive Holy Grail, Rapid Decisive Operations is an ideal that nations have searched for since the early days of warfare: A way to end a conflict with one decisive blow. Unfortunately, modern war is much more complicated. Just winning battles will not win wars.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations written by David R. Hogg and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the concept of Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) and seeks to answer the question of whether or not Rapid Decisive Operations is an achievable concept for the establishment of future Joint Warfighting Doctrine. This study starts with a detailed look at what Rapid Decisive Operations is, what it hopes to accomplish, and what important assumptions are being made in developing this concept. The viability of the Rapid Decisive Operations concept will be based on the criteria of acceptability, feasibility, suitability and risk. This paper will show that Rapid Decisive Operations is the beginning of a new Joint doctrine/concept of warfighting that has the potential of developing a Joint team with a shared training, education and military culture. A doctrine/concept that should embed Jointness within all of the Services as the United States continues to transform its military forces to meet future threats. But, much like the search for the elusive Holy Grail, Rapid Decisive Operations is an ideal that nations have searched for since the early days of warfare: A way to end a conflict with one decisive blow. Unfortunately, modern war is much more complicated. Just winning battles will not win wars.

Download or read book Heating Up the Argument A Look at Friction and the Soundness of the Rapid Decisive Operations RDO Concept written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One goal of the United States (US) is a capabilities-based joint force designed to quickly achieve success along the continuum of conflict ranging from peace operations to war. In support of this goal, US Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) authors crafted an integrated Joint Operational War-fighting (JOW) on 15 August 2002. This concept based upon emerging "Effects-Based Operations" (EBO) and Rapid Decisive Operations" (RDO) concepts. The JOW concept desires a quick and decisive solution, one in which the enemy submits to a rapid strike of superior joint force against critical nodes of an opponent. This concept of using overwhelming power to be decisive is not new-it reflects our US military culture. Consequently, the question to ask is "what is different?" One thing that is different about the emerging RDO concept is the growing belief and acceptance that enhancements in information technology will enable joint planners to rapidly assess and rapidly adapt plans to correspond to changing situations. As a result, the JOW concept suggests that commanders and staffs at the operational level can quickly gain situational awareness and thus develop solutions to operational problems faster than the enemy thus rendering the enemy's actions more predictable and easier to counter. Is this working hypothesis valid? Will decisions for employment of combat power based on more information, quickly shared among more services and agencies enable the US military to rapidly and decisively defeat its opponent? This monograph examined the soundness of RDO concept for full spectrum operations at the operational level of war. Using "friction" as an overarching evaluation criterion, this paper first determined that the concept's definition is imprecise and can create contusion. Second, it determined the concept's suitability for full-spectrum operations is suspect.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations written by Antulio J. Echevarria Ii and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most experts agree that no genuine military transformation or revolution will occur without a corresponding change in operational concepts. Merely replacing old equipment with new is not enough. Militaries must also develop new ways to link tactical actions to strategic ends. For this reason Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO), an emerging concept currently under development by the Joint Futures Lab (J9) of Joint Forces Command, is particularly important for the transformation of U.S. military forces today. An innovative and viable concept will not only stimulate the development of new technologies; it will also help balance the advantages and disadvantages that the introduction of such technologies always entails. On the other hand, a flawed concept will only lead to frustration in training and disappointment in combat as results fail to match expectations.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations An Assumptions Based Critique written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In support of the Joint community's efforts to develop a viable operational concept, the author argues that the Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) concept's developers deserve high praise for attempting to link two relative properties--speed and decisiveness--but that the definition of RDO is at present incoherent and based on several deeply flawed assumptions. The author concludes that RDO creates dubious expectations and will likely fail to balance the strengths and weaknesses introduced by new technologies. He further recommends a method for identifying and addressing an operational concept s critical assumptions.

Download or read book The New Maskirovka Countering US Rapid Decisive Operations in the 21st Century written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By attacking American knowledge through deliberate, broad based misinformation (Maskirovka), future enemies can counter US attempts at RDO and achieve victory through a prolonged campaign. Current visions that will shape the US military over the next twenty years indicate that the future force will consist of lighter, rapidly deployable forces that will leverage precision and stealth as force multipliers. Using the new information technologies as an enabler, future joint forces will be tailored to specific contingencies and will employ the doctrinal concepts of precision engagement, dominant maneuver, focused logistics and full dimensional protection to accomplish its objectives under an overarching warfighting concept: Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO). The key enabler of this overarching concept is the achievement of decision superiority gained through knowledge attained in a cognitive process. This study proposes that such a warfighting construct can be effectively countered through a deliberate, long-term effort to attack the cognitive process and manipulate knowledge. Portraying western-style information operations as limited and inadequate, the analysis suggests that an effort reminiscent of Soviet style maskirovka would be necessary to be effective against a future US RDO effort. Though by no means easy to implement comprehensively, the study contends that a maskirovka effort, imbedded within an appropriate warfighting strategy, could counter the future US military with devastating success. Future US forces must be flexible enough to contend with unexpected circumstances. As such, the concepts of information superiority and decision superiority should be considered useful tools for a future joint force, not the cornerstone upon which the force is designed.

Download or read book The Development of a Joint Operational Concept Effects Based Operations and Rapid Decisive Operations written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper explores the parallel development of the joint operational concepts Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) and Effects-Based Operations (EBO) with the Marine Corps' emerging operational concept: Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare (EMW). It explores the role of operational concepts in providing future warfighting capabilities and seeks to answer the following questions: How will a joint operational concept enhance future warfighting capability, and, How can the Marine Corps best contribute to the joint force of the future? The paper is divided into six sections. Section I provides an overview of the future security environment in which the joint force of tomorrow will operate. Section II explores major developments in joint warfighting: the Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, Joint Vision 2010/2020, and the evolution of U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) role in developing joint operational concepts. Section III argues the need for a joint operational concept that will be able to drive the combat development processes of the individual services. Without a joint operational concept, neither the intent of the Goldwater-Nichols Act nor the vision established in Joint Vision 2020 will be realized. Section IV examines the RDO and EBO initiatives, the USJFCOM RDO war games, and the Joint Strike Force initiative. Section V analyzes the Marine Corps' efforts to develop its new operational concept: EMW. Section VI provides the author's conclusions and recommendations for the future development of operational concepts. Future operational concepts must focus on the needs of the regional CinCs and provide the NCA with the greatest future warfighting capability across the spectrum of conflict. USJFCOM must be given the authority commensurate with the responsibility that they have been given as DoD's lead agency for transformation. The individual services must overcome service parochialism and actively support USJFCOM in their attempts to develop an operational concept.

Download or read book Rapid Decisive Operations written by James L. Boling and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joint Forces Command has proposed "Rapid Decisive Operations" as an operational concept for future warfare. The paper examines Rapid Decisive Operations from theoretical and the strategic perspectives within the context of conventional, state-to-state warfare. The Joint Forces Command's concept "Whitepaper" includes ambiguous conflicting statements concerning the employment of Rapid Decisive Operations within in a coercive strategy focused on influencing adversary leadership decision-making. However, such decision-making is unpredictable due to psychological factors and the actions of chance, friction, human nature, passion, uncertainty, and politics; especially within the interactive nature of warfare. General systems and chaos theory support the unpredictability of war. Although Rapid Decisive Operations embraces these modern systems concepts, this is a self-contradictory position since these theories establish the impossibility of predictability within such systems. The paper concludes that Rapid Decisive Operations is a fundamentally flawed operational concept. The White paper's description of the concept fails to present a balanced, intellectually honest, critical assessment. Rapid Decisive Operations does not appear to be adequately grounded in operational realities and the critical enabler of the Operational Net Assessment adopts a self contradictory position regarding systems theory versus predictability which invalidates its promise to provide the foreknowledge necessary to support the concept. Rapid Decisive Operations is divorced from strategic context, which ignores political factors that could reduce its speed and operational advantages. Despite these flaws, Rapid Decisive Operations is still a worthy candidate operational concept, provided it is redesigned to reconcile its internal contradictions and establish solid theoretical underpinnings

Download or read book To Fight and Win America s Wars and Then What written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coalition's success in Iraq will be defined by how well it balances the strategy of Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) against the realistic requirements for post-conflict reconstruction operations. There are many questions posed about how the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army will approach post-conflict operations and reconstruction in light of their current Department of Defense strategy of RDO. Central Command's commander General Tommy Franks and his subordinate commanders are the test-bed and will determine the concept's true validity. The Cold War's end, coupled with the 11 September 2001 attacks, illustrates the changes to the strategic norms and paradigms in which military operates. As a result, the Department of Defense's civilian and military leadership have initiated programs to transform the military in order to meet these challenges. Addressing these challenges, the services must not only change the way they think, but also their force structure and capabilities in order to adapt quickly to new threats and unexpected circumstances. At the center of transformation is the RDO strategy. The RDO strategy is relevant to the discussion of post conflict operations in that it dictates a war- fighting vision spanning the spectrum of conflict. As such, RDO will affect future military doctrine and structure. In theory, RDO will impact military capabilities in a manner that creates a war-fighting architecture that limits an opponent's options, his range of possible decisions, and rendering his actions more predictable and easier to counter. This monograph examines the U.S. Army's doctrine and structure in terms of producing the effects required in a post conflict reconstruction environment.

Download or read book Operation Just Cause written by James H. Embrey and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 2000, the 'Defense Planning Guidance' tasked U.S. Joint Forces Command to develop new joint warfighting concepts and capabilities. These capabilities should provide the U.S. military by 2015 the ability to defeat an enemy rapidly and decisively. Focused on winning high-end, small-scale contingencies (such as the Panama operation), 'fully networked and coherent joint forces' will employ superior knowledge, precision and mobility against an enemy's critical functions to 'create maximum shock and disruption, defeating his will and ability to fight'. In all, Operation JUST CAUSE, conducted over a decade ago, accomplished these same results. This study will examine how Southern Command and its warfighting Joint Task Force-South (JTFSO) organized, planned, prepared, and executed joint operations that resulted in the total, cataclysmic collapse of Manuel Noriega's Panamanian Defense Force (PDF). Using the factors that provided success, the final section of this study will suggest elements that should provide a guide to developing of future concepts and structure for RDO.

Download or read book Reshaping the Expeditionary Army to Win Decisively The Case for Greater Stabilization Capacity in the Modular Force written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, the U.S. Army is decisively engaged in both fighting an unfamiliar type of war and transforming itself to meet the challenges of future warfare. But what are those challenges? What capabilities does U.S. strategy demand of its military instrument? Where are the major capability gaps, and how should they inform Army Transformation to ensure the future expeditionary Army has the right campaign qualities? This paper argues that the major capability gap in today's force - and vital for future campaigns - is the ability to conduct stabilization. It begins with exploring the changes in U.S. strategy that are the impetus behind the need for greater capacity to conduct post conflict stabilization and reconstruction. Then, it analyzes the emerging role of the Army in post-conflict operations in the context of modern combat to more fully understand the specific requirements of stabilization. The paper then develops an operational concept - progressive stabilization - that complements the Army's concept of rapid decisive operations while improving its ability to contribute to long-term conflict resolution. It outlines three key force attributes an expeditionary force structure must have to provide the requisite mix of combat and stabilization capabilities. Finally, this paper builds on those attributes to suggest three areas where Army leaders must make near-term adjustments in the Modular Force to ensure the nation has a truly expeditionary force with the campaign capacity for both rapid decisive operations and stabilization.

Download or read book Operation Just Cause written by James H. Embrey and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: