An Option Offense in the Defense of Europe

Abstract

Regardless of the numerous accounts that the NATO Alliance is purely a defensive coalition, this paper advocates that an element of offensive thrust is engrained in the fibers of the adopted 'flexible response' strategy. It is more prominent at the operational and tactical levels of conventional warfare. The generation of the FOFA concept as well as the U.S. Army's Airland Battle doctrine are typical examples of potential offensive efforts across the Central European front. Supporting points of application in military strategy and doctrine are presented for the reader's review. Keywords: FOFA(Follow On Forces Attack); Military doctrine; Theater level offensive application; NATO strategic objectives.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA202610

Entities

People

  • Michael E. Bolin

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Battlefields
  • Central Europe
  • Combat Areas
  • Conventional Capabilities
  • Conventional Warfare
  • Europe
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Strategy
  • Nato
  • Second World War
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Western Europe

Readers

  • Economics
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Systems Analysis and Design