Network Centric Warfare and Its Effect on Unit of Employmentx (UEx) Use of Mission Command
Abstract
The 2002 NSS call for "transformING to meet the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century", and the Army's leadership elected to concentrate the service's transformation efforts on battle command. The three pillars supporting the U.S. Army's transformation of battle command are its doctrine of mission command, reorganization of its warfighting forces - including the creation of the Unit of Employment (x) (UEx) headquarters - and the emerging joint concept of network centric warfare (NCW). The decision to merge these practices and concepts, coupled with the focus on transformation through battle command, necessitates understanding how network centric warfare may affect the UEX's use of mission command doctrine. FM 6-0, Mission Command: Command and Control of Army Forces, states that trust and mutual understanding underpin the practice of mission command. Evaluated against these two principles, the Army's move to a brigade-based force, coupled with policy changes and emerging warfighting concepts, improves UE(x) commanders' ability to exercise mission command. These improvements overshadow the tendency of commanders to diminish trust and mutual understanding by relying on centralized command and control practices, which result from the influence of U.S. Army policies, UE (x)structural and conceptual limitations, and features of network centric warfare theory.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 26, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA435895
Entities
People
- Jeffery A. Hannon
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College