Counterforce: Locating and Destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction
Abstract
Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and advanced conventional weapons and technology are offering potential regional adversaries new operational concepts for countering American power projection. While asymmetric threats pose significant challenges to U.S. military strategy, the U.S. possesses strengths, including the potential to increase the tempo of warfare through long-range precision counterstrikes early in a conflict. In order to defeat a WMD-armed adversary's asymmetric attacks, the U.S. needs to have in place a balanced CINC concepts of operation and robust counterforce operational concepts for locating and destroying WMD. A system-of-systems architecture is useful in identifying the military capabilities: intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); command, control, communications, computing, and intelligence (C41); long-range precision strike forces; theater enabling forces; distributed ground combat cells; and carrier-based aircraft. These capabilities placed in the hands of the combatant commanders will provide new targeting models and planning tools that make it possible for the commander to chose from an ever-expanding number of military strike options. The U.S. needs to obtain an air dominance early in the conflict. Non-linear, asymmetric long-range precision strike operations offer the best opportunity to neutralize the new found operational concepts by WMD-armed adversaries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA365425
Entities
People
- Robert W. Chandler
Organizations
- United States Air Force Academy