Linking Target Selection to Political Objectives

Abstract

Since airpower strategists began seeing the enemy as a single system made up of groups of components, our targeting philosophy has evolved from trying to effectively blow things up to blowing things up for effect, Our goal is to find and effect the targets that will ultimately lead to attainment of our political objectives Yet, how do we logically link a target to the desired political objectives? If we consider the enemy as a system, we realize that an action on one part of the system will often result in unexpected reactions in other parts of the system We must take a systems approach to targeting However, the experts on systems theory are not in the military but in the business world, One such expert is Dr, Eliyahu Goldratt. He has developed a logical method for exposing links in complex business systems, called the Theory of Constraints, Military planners can use these same tools to uncover links within and between an enemy's centers of gravity.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA407116

Entities

People

  • Scott J. Tew

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Assembly Lines
  • Battles
  • Doctrine
  • Governments
  • Load Monitoring
  • Manufacturing
  • Military Applications
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • New York
  • Schools
  • Systems Approach
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design