Air and Missile Defense and Effects Based Targeting

The U.S. Army currently lacks a fully comprehensive and synergistic air and missile defense strategy for combating current and future air and missile threats at the tactical level. While Army Air Defense Artillery currently provides offensive and defensive counterair doctrine for missile defense and Echelon Above Corps (EAC) operations, there is no doctrine or method for conducting offensive counterair operations at levels below EAC. This monograph seeks to remedy this flaw by analyzing the conditions necessary in creating operational synergy with regard to air and missile defense. The monograph evaluates the theory of operational synergy, the air and missile defense doctrine supporting this theory, and the current Army targeting process as a means to execute this doctrine. Recommendations include the streamlining of current Army air and missile defense doctrine into one coherent counterair doctrine, and the adoption of the Army targeting process as an integral part of air defense planning for the execution of offensive counterair operations. By adopting these modifications, the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery can achieve a comprehensive and synergistic air and missile defense strategy that incorporates simultaneous offensive and defensive counterair operations from the tactical to strategic levels of war.