Managing Complexity During Military Urban Operations: Visualizing the Elephant

Abstract

The complexity that characterizes modern urban operation combines wit ha perceived intolerance of military casualties to make actions in cities among the most difficult missions that U.S. armed forces will undertake. This study proposes a new planning approach that employs identification of critical points--the essential elements of the urban area's physical and demographic terrain--along with the notion of density --the quantity of elements and activities within the urban space--to aid military personnel in their efforts to overcome the complexity. Integrating this approach with the traditional command estimate process should assist the planner in determining how best to allocate a command's ever-scarce resources.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA428252

Entities

People

  • Russell W. Glenn

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Center Of Gravity
  • Command And Control
  • Doctrine
  • Electronic Mail
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military History
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • New York
  • Operations Security
  • Psychological Operations
  • Training
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • Warfare
  • Websites

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Urban Planning and Geography.

Technology Areas

  • Space