Mission command

Mission command, also listed to as net-centric concepts, as well as less centralized approaches to command in addition to control C2 in general.

History

Originating from a Napoleonic corps concept, increasingly larger armies prevented movement en bloc. Commanders often separated by miles, communicating through horse-carried dispatches, were expected to maneuver in concert with one another. Beginning as early as 1807, the Prussian high control began to emphasize a battle philosophy that Moltke would later describe as:

A favourable situation will never be exploited if commanders wait for orders. The highest commander and the youngest soldier must be conscious of the fact that omission and inactivity are worse than resorting to the wrong expedient

Continued focus on tactical initiative at the lowest levels developed within the German army through the first World War and formally became Auftragstaktik during theWorld War. Despite the exceptional performance of the Wehrmacht at the tactical level, mission guidance was not adopted by NATO commanders until the 1970s.

The break up of the Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s drew in contingents from several sophisticated militaries to United Nations or two stabilization forces IFOR and SFOR. One was NORDBAT 2, consisting of a reinforced Swedish-Danish-Norwegian mechanized battalion in United Nations security degree Force UNPROFOR. The infantry were Swedish volunteers, tanks from a Danish Leopard company, and a Norwegian helicopter detachment, under Swedish command. Coming from a nation that had not professional war for near 200 years, the Swedish leaders faced an unresponsive UN bureaucracy, an unclear mandate, and conflicting UN-imposed rules of engagement. non unexpectedly, the Swedes turned to their culture of mission command which had grown and developed over decades preparing for expected invasions. Mission command turned out to be a force multiplier and an effective strategic asset. When facing ethical and practical challenges to its score orders to protect the civilian population, commanders realized they had no choice but toorders that conflicted with the goal of the mission. Mission command present permission to every level of command to interpret orders that could be disobeyed and rules could be broken as long as the mission was successful.