Combined operations
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In current
Pre-modern history
The concept of combined operations evolved largely as a result of expeditionary warfare, which can be traced to the Sea Peoples.[citation needed] In its basic form it involved raiding coastal regions by land forces arriving from the naval vessels. The raiding tactics were expanded into more complex operations by Alexander the Great, who used naval vessels for both troop transporting and logistics in his campaigns. The next exponents of combined operations in the ancient world of the Mediterranean Basin were the Carthaginians, who introduced two entirely-new dimensions to the use of naval forces by not only staging operations that combined naval and land troops but also eventuated in combining strategic multi-national forces during the land phase of the operation when Hannibal in his most famous achievement at the outbreak of the Second Punic War marched an army that included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy. Following the example of Carthage, the Romans used combined operations extensively to expand their empire and influence in the Mediterranean and beyond, including the Roman conquest of Britain, which was not a temporary expeditionary operation but included long-term occupation and Roman settlement of the territories. After the peace agreement between Kush and the Roman Empire in 21 BC, the Kushites and the Romans performed joint military operations against several adversaries.[1]
The next development of combined operations came from environmental pressures in the Scandinavian region during the Middle Ages and the emergence of the Viking migrations, which combined raiding, longer term inland operations, occupation and settlement. They were conducted as sea, coastal, and riverine operations, and sometimes were strategic in nature, reaching as far as Constantinople.
In
The development in combined operations reached a new level during the
Although all combined operations until the invention of the combustion engine were largely dependent on the
Modern history
Though a significantly-expanded combined operation, the Crimean War was the first example of a planned combined operations campaign that was directed as part of a multinational coalition strategy. Aside from being the first modern expeditionary operation that used steam powered warships and telegraph communications, which made it the departing point for the rest of the 19th- and 20th-century developments, itt was also the first used as a military theatre instrument to force decision in the conflict.
The next development in the evolution of combined operations was made during the expansion of the
The period of World War I was prolonged well past its completion into the 1920s and saw combined operations established as a systematic and planned operations with a larger scope than the simple
One of the most extensive and complex of combined operations that followed the war was the
The phrase "combined operations" was first introduced by the
Given the U.S. usage of the word "joint" meaning such activities, the British usage faded relatively quickly. After World War II, the
The term Combined Joint Task Force then took on an extra meaning, beyond that of a multinational multiservice grouping since it came to refer to a particular type of NATO deployment planning, outside the treaty area, in the late 1990s.
Since the early 1980s, the concept of combined operations had been referred to by NATO, particularly by the US. Department of Defence, as joint operations. Regardless of the use of combined, joined or interoperability terms, the concept ensures that different military organisations maintain the ability to conduct combat and non-combat military operations regardless of the national and service (ground, naval and air forces) differences.
The ability to conduct combined operations allows national forces, their subordinated formations, units or systems to perform tasks and complete missions and operations together. The overriding requirement is that they share common doctrine and procedures, utilise each other's infrastructure and bases, and to be able to communicate with one another. These abilities reduce duplication of effort and increase economies of scale in a strategic alliance of its members, allow pooling of resources and produce synergies among its commands.
In the NATO concept, interoperability does not necessarily require common military equipment. What is important is that this equipment can share common facilities and communicate with other equipment.[3] NATO militaries claim to have achieved interoperability because of decades of joint planning, training and exercises during the Cold War.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Richard Lobban 2004. Historical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Nubia, 2004. p70-78
- ^ "The Combined Operations Project". www.combinedops.com.
- ^ "Backgrounder: Interoperability for joint operations". NATO.
- ^ p.6, Williams
Sources
- Combined Operations Command dedication site Combined Operations in WW2 Home Page
- Williams, Darryl A. Maj., Facilitating Joint Operations: The Evolving Battlefield Coordination Element., School of Advanced Military Studies Monographs, Command and General Staff College (CGSC), Fort Leavenworth, KS : US Army Command and General Staff College, 1996
Further reading
- Symonds, Craig L., ed. Union Combined Operations in the Civil War (Fordham University Press, 2010) 240 pages. Scholarly studies of the thrusts up the York and James rivers during the Peninsular campaign.
External sources
- Joint Operations (RN, Army, RAF, NATO) Joint Operations (RN, Army, RAF, NATO) : The RN Today : Training and People : Royal Navy
- NATO Joint Warfare Centre, Stavanger, Norway [1] Archived 2022-04-28 at the Wayback Machine