Task force

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Task group" redirects here. For the sociological and anthropological use, see Action group (sociology). For other uses, see Task force (disambiguation).
For task forces on Wikipedia projects, see
Wikipedia:TASKFORCE
.

A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy,[1] the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many non-military organizations now create "task forces" or task groups for temporary activities that might have once been performed by ad hoc (designated purpose) committees.

Naval

The concept of a naval task force is as old as navies, and prior to that time the assembly of ships for naval operations was referred to as fleets, divisions, or on the smaller scale, squadrons, and flotillas.

Before

Asiatic Fleet) and later numbered fleets
.

A task force can be assembled using ships from different divisions and squadrons, without requiring a formal and permanent fleet reorganization, and can be easily dissolved following completion of the operational task. The task force concept worked very well, and by the end of World War II about 100 task forces had been created in the U.S. Navy alone.[citation needed]

United States Navy

In the United States Navy, task forces are generally temporary organizations composed of particular ships, aircraft, submarines, military land forces, or shore service units, assigned to fulfill certain missions. The emphasis is placed on the individual commander of the unit, and references to "Commander, Task Force" ("CTF") are common.

History

In the U.S. Navy, task forces as part of numbered fleets have been assigned a two-digit number since March 1943, when Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, Admiral Ernest J. King assigned odd fleets to those in the Pacific, and even fleets to those in the Atlantic.

The Second Fleet was assigned the Atlantic Fleet, with the Fourth Fleet being assigned to the South Atlantic Force, the Eighth Fleet being assigned to Naval Forces, Northwest African waters, and the Twelfth Fleet assigned to the Naval Forces, Europe.[2]

The United States Navy has used numbered task forces in the same way since 1945. The

Joint Task Force if the force includes units from other services. Joint Task Force 1 was the atomic bomb test force during the post–World War II Operation Crossroads.[3]

In naval terms, the multinational (

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91). Task Force 142 is the U.S. Navy's Operational Test and Evaluation Force
.

Designation

The first digit of a task force designation is that of its parent fleet while the second is sequential. A task force may be made up of groups, each made up of units. Task groups within a force are numbered by an additional digit separated from the TF number by a decimal point. Task units within a group are indicated by an additional decimal. For example, "the third task unit of the fifth task group of the second task force of the Sixth Fleet would be numbered 62.5.3." This system extends further to task elements, individual ships in a task group. This arrangement was typically abbreviated, so references like

TF 11 are commonly seen.[6] Task units are sometimes nicknamed "Taffy", as in "Taffy 3" of Task Force 77, formally Task Unit 77.4.3. There is no requirement for uniqueness over time (e.g., the United States Seventh Fleet
used TF 76 in World War II, and off Vietnam, and continued to use TF 70–79 numberings throughout the rest of the twentieth century, and up to 2012).

List

United States Marine Corps

See

Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF)
for a description of the three standard combined arms task force organizations employed by the USMC.

Royal Navy

Main article: List of task forces of the Royal Navy

Earlier in the Second World War, the British Royal Navy had already devised its own system of Forces, they mainly assigned a letter occasionally a number some of the task forces are listed below .

Lettered task forces

Originally stationed at

Eastern Fleet during the Indian Ocean raid
April to May 1942.

Originally stationed at

Eastern Fleet during the Indian Ocean raid
April to May 1942.

Formed as part of a number of hunting task groups on 5 October 1939 as a prelude to Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939 and part of the

Operation Catapult, 3 July 1940, took part in Operation Rheinübung
19 May - 15 June 1941.

Part of a number of hunting task groups on 5 October 1939 as a prelude to Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939 based in Freetown it was then stationed at, Malta, took part in the Battle of the Tarigo Convoy, 16 April 1941, was involved in the First Battle of Sirte, 17 December 1941 then moved to Freetown in December 1941.

Numbered task forces

Formed to deal with the Tirpitz Sortie against convoys PQ 12 and QP8, 6–13 March 1942.

Formed 13 May 1945 and took part in the Battle off Penang - the Battle of the Malacca Strait.[8]

  • Task Force 57, later renamed Task Force 37 (USN-allocated names for a Carrier Battle Group of the British Pacific Fleet in 1945).[9]

Post-World War II

During Operation Corporate of the Falklands War in 1982 Royal Navy forces assembled as Task Force 317, often referred to in general use as "The Task Force", to achieve sea and air supremacy in the Falklands Total Exclusion Zone, before the amphibious forces arrived.[10]

French Navy

The French Navy uses the name Task Force 473 to designate any power projection by the sea. This Task Force can be composed of a carrier battle group articulated around the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, or it can be composed of an amphibious group articulated around a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship.[11]

Other

In Argentina,

Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy detention center during the 1976–1983 military dictatorship.[12]

During the Falklands War in 1982 the Argentine Navy formed three smaller Grupos de Tareas (Task Groups) for pincer movements against the Royal Navy.

Army

In the

armored or mechanized infantry unit attached is called a company team. A similar unit at the brigade level is called a brigade combat team (BCT), and there is also a similar Regimental combat team
(RCT).

In the British Army and the armies of other Commonwealth countries, such units are traditionally known as battlegroups.

The

Urozgan Province, Afghanistan from 2006 to 2013,[14] and the Northern Territory Emergency Response Task Force.[15]

Government

In government or business a task force is a temporary organization created to solve a particular problem. It is considered to be a more formal ad hoc committee.

A taskforce, or more commonly, task force, is a special committee, usually of experts, formed expressly for the purpose of studying a particular problem. The task force usually performs some sort of an audit to assess the current situation, then draws up a list of all the current problems present and evaluates which ones merit fixing and which ones are actually fixable. The task force would then formulate a set of solutions to the problems and pick the "best" solution to each problem, as determined by some set of standards. For example, a task force set up to eliminate excessive government spending might consider a "best" solution to be one that saves the most money. Normally, the task force then presents its findings and proposed solutions to the institution that called for its formation; it is then up to the institution itself to actually act upon the task force's recommendations.

Business

In business, task forces are initiated similar to military situations to form an ad hoc group of persons that focus on a specific subject, which needs urgent addressing, resolutions or results.[16] Subject-specific task forces are very common.[17] NASA lessons contain information from different task forces.[18] This can be seen specifically in the COVID-19 crisis, but in many normal project contexts as well, where a dedicated group of experts investigates or takes on a specific request or problem and develops or translates it into results as quick as possible. It is important to know that a task force in project context should stick to certain rules, which have to be coordinated and controlled by an assigned task force leader or by the project manager.[19] Good leadership is a key element of the task force leader, as it is usually asking an extra effort from all resources involved.[20]

Other data regarding US task forces

  • Some task forces are named after their commander, such as Dunsterforce.
  • Marine Air-Ground Task Force commanded by Brigadier General Richard Natonski, attached to the I Marine Expeditionary Force
    .
  • Task Force Leatherneck is the name given the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade during their 2009 operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. They are a Marine Air-Ground Task Force commanded by Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, assigned to work under the International Security Assistance Force.
  • US Army
    War on Terror
    since the start in 2003.
  • Task Force 1-41 Infantry was a U.S. Army heavy battalion task force which took part in the Gulf War of January–March 1991. Task Force 1-41 Infantry was the first coalition force to breach the Saudi Arabian border on 15 February 1991 and conduct ground combat operations in Iraq engaging in direct and indirect fire fights with the enemy on 17 February 1991. It consisted primarily of the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, and the 4th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, all being part of the 2nd Armored Division (Forward), based at Lucius D. Clay Kaserne, 24 kilometres (15 mi) north of Bremen, in the Federal Republic of Germany.

See also

References

  1. S2CID 213678034
    .
  2. ^ "Chapter 4: Fleet Administration". iBiblio.
  3. ISBN 068806910X
    .
  4. Combined Communication Electronics Board (September 2004). "Annex A: Task Force Allocations" (PDF). ACP 113(AF) Call Sign Book for Ships. Joint Chiefs of Staff. pp. A-1–A-2 (197–198). Archived from the original
    (PDF) on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
  5. ^ Operations in Sierra Leone, August 9, 2000, Jane's Defence Weekly.
  6. ^ "Group". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  7. ISBN 0668033088
    .
  8. ISBN 0854221522.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  9. ISBN 978-1591140443
    .
  10. ^ "British Task Force - Falklands War 1982". Naval History. 31 May 2013.
  11. ^ https://www.defense.gouv.fr/actualites/operations/libye-qu-est-ce-que-la-task-force-473[dead link]
  12. ^ "Declaración de Jorge Enrique Perren ante el juez Bonadio" [Testimony of Jorge Enrique Perren before judge Bonadio]. Derechos.org (in Spanish). 30 August 2001. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  13. ISBN 9781741753745
    .
  14. ^ Brangwin, Nicole; Rann, Anne (16 July 2010). "Australia's military involvement in Afghanistan since 2001: a chronology". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Operation OUTREACH". Global Operations. Department of Defence. Archived from the original on 24 August 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
  16. ISBN 978-3-662-46728-2
  17. ^ "Quality Management | PMI". www.pmi.org. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  18. ^ Hoffpauir, Daniel (2015-04-30). "NASA Lessons Learned". NASA. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  19. ^ "Tips For Leading an Effective Taskforce". www.projectmanagement.com. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  20. ^ "The Secret of Task Force Management in 5 Steps". Gamelearn: Game-based learning courses for soft skills training. 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2020-07-17.

Further reading

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