In Pursuit of Conceptual Excellence: the Evolution of British Military
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For my parents and Cecilia Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Roman military theorist, De Re Militarii, 4th century AD Contents Acknowledgements 13 Abbreviations 15 INTRODUCTION 19 PART I THE RE-EMERGENCE OF CONVENTIONAL MILITARY POWER: SINGLE-SERVICE DOCTRINE DEVELOPMENTS, 1989–1996 43 Introduction 45 1 An Era of Cumulative Changes: The Environment Shaping Britain’s Armed Forces, 1989–1996 48 1.1 Strategic Environment: The Lack of Defence Policy Guidance 49 1.2 Technological Environment: A ‘Revolution in Military Expectations’ 61 1.3 Social Environment: Mounting Pressure on the ‘Postmodern Military’ 70 2 The Capability-Based Army: Land Power Leads the Way into Doctrine Development 78 2.1 Organisational Culture: The Two Armies 79 2.2 Doctrinal Debate: From the Bagnall Reforms to Operation Granby 86 2.3 Formal Doctrine: The Manoeuvrist Approach 98 3 ‘Instrument of First Choice’: The Emancipation of Air Power after the Gulf War 104 3.1 Organisational Culture: The Royal Air Force as the Junior Service 105 3.2 Doctrinal Debate: The Gulf War, Technology and New Constraints 112 3.3 Formal Doctrine: Strategic Air Offensive Revisited 122 4 Wider Peacekeeping: A Half-Completed Understanding of Post-Cold War Peacekeeping 129 4.1 Organisational Culture: The Legacy of Low-Intensity Operations 130 4.2 Doctrinal Debate: Justifying the Limitations of Bosnia 140 4.3 Formal Doctrine: The Concept of Wider Peacekeeping 148 5 Maritime Power Projection: A Navy for the New Strategic Environment 154 5.1 Organisational Culture: The Royal Navy as the Senior Service 155 5.2 Doctrinal Debate: Preparing a Trojan Horse for Joint Doctrine 164 5.3 Formal Doctrine: The Concept of Maritime Power Projection 168 6 Doctrine: Instrument of Service Policy and Change Management 177 PART II CONSOLIDATION OF A POST-COLD WAR MILITARY STRATEGY: JOINT DOCTRINE DEVELOPMENTS, 1996–2002 185 Introduction 187 7 Military Transformation Rebalanced: The Environment Shaping Britain’s Armed Forces, 1996–2002 190 7.1 Strategic Environment: Consolidation of a Post-Cold War Defence Policy 190 7.2 Technological Environment: The Growing ‘System of Systems’ 199 7.3 Social Environment: The Military’s ‘Right to Be Different’ 204 8 Peace Enforcement: The New Rationale for Post-Cold War Crisis Interventions 211 8.1 Organisational Culture: The Changing Attitude towards Peacekeeping 212 8.2 Doctrinal Debate: Marrying Counter-Insurgency and Coercion Theory 214 8.3 Formal Doctrine: The Concept of Peace Enforcement 221 9 British Defence Doctrine: Breakthrough of a Joint Military-Strategic Doctrine 229 9.1 Organisational Culture: Jointery – The ‘Purple Trend’ 230 9.2 Doctrinal Debate: British Defence Doctrine and the Lessons from Kosovo 235 9.3 Formal Doctrine: The ‘British Approach to Military Operations’ 247 10 The ‘Post-11 September’ Military: Doctrine and the Rise of Asymmetric Confl ict, 2001/02 259 10.1 The British Debate on Asymmetry prior to ‘11 September’ 262 10.2 The ‘New Chapter’ – A Blueprint for Further Military Transformation 266 10.3 Afghanistan 2001/02 – The Merging and Blurring of Military Operations 274 11 Doctrine: Institutionalising a Culture of Innovation 285 CONCLUSION 295 BIBLIOGRAPHY 313 APPENDICES 355 A Chronology – Major Events in British Defence and Doctrinal Evolution 357 B British Doctrine Community 365 C Hierarchy of British Doctrinal Documents 367 Acknowledgements The successful conclusion of this doctoral thesis would not have been possible without the help and cooperation of many people. I would like to thank my supervisors and mentors Professors Kurt R. Spillmann and Andreas Wenger for promoting and guiding my efforts in security and defence studies. Their dedication to the subject, their demanding standards of work as well as their care and encouragement will forever remain a source of inspiration to me. I am grateful to the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London, which kindly accepted me as a visiting fellow and opened the doors to many institutes in Britain’s defence establishment. Among the other organisations which helped me, I would like to emphasise the assistance of the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London, which invited me to participate in the rolling seminar series of the British Military Doctrine Group at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham. I would also like to thank the fol- lowing interview partners, both academics and practitioners, who of- fered vital insights into contemporary British doctrine development: Michael Codner, Oliver Daddow, John Mackinlay and Bill Tyack. Furthermore, many valuable comments were provided by Christoph Breitenmoser, Marcel Gerber and Zsuzsanna Hegybiro, for which I would like to thank them. I am also very grateful to David Syme for so meticulously proof-reading the fi nal draft and smoothing the edges of my English. I am much obliged to the Directorate for Security Policy (DSP) of the Swiss Department of Defence for providing the fi nancial support for my fi rst year of research in the United Kingdom. I am equally indebted to the Swiss National Fund, which granted me a scholarship for the second year. Most of all, I would like to thank my parents and my fi ancée Cecilia. Their unwavering love during the past years has been invaluable. Without their support and faith in my doings, I might not have em- barked on this ‘journey’ and I would certainly never have arrived at its destination. 13 But in the end I must take responsibility for whatever weaknesses and errors yet remain, as the thoughts expressed in this thesis do not necessarily refl ect the views of any of the above mentioned institutes or individuals. Lambs Conduit Street, London, 15 September 2003 Markus Mäder 14 Abbreviations 9/11 Terror attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 AAP Allied Administrative Publication ACSC Army Command and Staff College ADP Army Doctrine Publication AFM Army Field Manual AJP Allied Joint Publication AP 3000 Air Publication 3000 (British Air Power Doctrine) ARRC Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps AWC Air Warfare Centre BA British Army BAOR British Army of the Rhine BDD 1 / 2 British Defence Doctrine, 1st Edition (1997) / 2nd Edition (2001) BMD 1 / 2 British Military Doctrine, 1st Edition (1989) / 2nd Edition (1996) BMDG British Military Doctrine Group BR 1806 British Maritime Doctrine CAS Chief of the Air Staff CDS Chief of the Defence Staff CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy CGS Chief of the General Staff CIMIC Civil-Military Cooperation CJO Chief of Joint Operations CJTF Combined Joint Task Force COIN Counter-Insurgency 15 CSRC Confl ict Studies Research Centre DfID Department for International Development DGD&D Directorate General of Development and Doctrine DPKO UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations DSD Defence Studies Department (King’s College London) EAPC Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council ESDP European Security and Defence Policy FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Offi ce FRY Former Republic of Yugoslavia GOC General Offi cer Commanding HCSC Higher Command and Staff Course HMSO Her Majesty’s Stationery Offi ce HQ Headquarters IFOR Implementation Force IISS International Institute for Strategic Studies INTERFET International Force for East Timor ISAF International Security Assistance Force ISTAR Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance JDCC Joint Doctrine and Concepts Centre JRDF Joint Rapid Deployment Force JRRF Joint Rapid Reaction Forces JSCSC Joint Services Command and Staff College JWP Joint Warfare Publication KCL King’s College London KFOR Kosovo Force MACA Military Aid to the Civil Authorities MAS NATO Military Agency for Standardisation 16 MNB C Multinational Brigade Centre (KFOR) MND Multinational Division MoD Ministry of Defence MTR Military-Technological Revolution MWC Maritime Warfare Centre NACC North Atlantic Cooperation Council NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NORTHAG Northern Army Group OGD Other Government Department OODA Observation – Orientation – Decision – Action (Loop) OOTW Operations Other Than War OSCE Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe PfP NATO Partnership for Peace PGM Precision-Guided Munition PJHQ Permanent Joint Headquarters PSO Peace Support Operation RAF Royal Air Force RMA Revolution in Military Affairs RN Royal Navy ROE Rules of Engagement RUSI Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe SACLANT Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic SCSI Strategic and Combat Studies Institute SDR Strategic Defence Review SF Special Forces (British term, as opposed to Special Operations Forces/SOF in US and NATO terminology) 17 SFOR Stabilisation Force SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe SLOC Sea Lines of Communications SOF Special Operations Forces (US and NATO term) SOUTHAG Southern Army Group SSBN Nuclear Powered Ballistic Missile Firing Submarine TASM Tactical Air-to-Surface Missile TF Task Force TLAM Tomahawk Land Attack Missile TRADOC US Army Training and Doctrine Command TSO The Stationery Offi ce (until 1996 HMSO) UCK Ushtria Clirimtare Kosovës (Kosovo Liberation Army) UK United Kingdom UNAMSIL United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone UNFICYP United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus UNMIK United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNOSOM United Nations Operations in Somalia UNPROFOR United Nations Protection Force (in Former Yugoslavia) UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia UNTAET United Nations Transitional Administration in East