Mission-Type Orders in Joint Air Operations: The Empowerment of Air Leadership

摘要

The Air Force's current doctrinal maxims of centralized control and decentralized execution have the potential to produce over-centralized planning at the theater Air Operations Center; the result of this tendency is a cumbersome air tasking order and a campaign vulnerable to lost communications, information overload, and decapitation. One cure for such problems is the decentralization of tactical planning through the use of mission-type orders at the wing or air task force level. Mission-type orders include a clear statement of the superior commander's intent and state each unit's tasks in terms of operational effects to be achieved over several days rather than daily targets and aimpoints.