Effects-based approaches to operations

About this book

There are currently three major theoretical approaches that dominate analyses and descriptions of military operations. They are Operational Art, Network-Centric Warfare (NCW) (or Network-Enabled Operations (NEOps) in the Canadian context), and Effects Based Operations (EBO). The concept of EBO is currently having a significant influence on Operational Art and NCW, as well as how operations are conceptualized in the new security environment. The EBO concept is emerging through discussions and papers within Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) jointly with other stakeholders in the Department of National Defence (DND); however, there are many ways of describing EBO in the literature and in practice. In order to fully understand the nature of EBO today and how it might evolve in the future, it is essential to understand the theoretical and historical origins of this subject, as well as how EBO is conceptualized and practiced by the CF. Since there has been no comprehensive examination of these concepts in a Canadian context, the Command Effectiveness and Behaviour Section at DRDC Toronto co-sponsored with the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre (CFAWC) a two-day workshops to identify the issues related to EBO and to begin to establish the agenda for better understanding EBO. This report is the product of that workshop and it includes not only the main conclusions of the workshop, but also essays on EBO by workshop participants, and others.--Abstract.