ABSTRACT
Case Study Elements ...................................................................................................................... 629 Keywords ....................................................................................................................................... 630 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 630 Glossary ......................................................................................................................................... 630 Context of This Case Study ........................................................................................................... 631 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 633 Description of the CAOS ............................................................................................................... 634 CAOS in Desert Storm (1991-1992) ............................................................................................. 638 CAOS in Allied Force (1999) ........................................................................................................ 641 CAOS in Operation Enduring Freedom (2001) ............................................................................. 643 CAOS in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) .....................................................................................645 Conclusions and Implications ........................................................................................................648 Suggested Future Work ..................................................................................................................648 Questions for Discussion ............................................................................................................... 652 References ...................................................................................................................................... 652
Air Operations Center, Airpower, Architecture, Command and control, Feedback, Operation Allied Force,OperationDesertStorm,OperationEnduringFreedom,OperationIraqiFreedom,Operation OdysseyDawn,OperationUni£edProtector,Organizationalstructure,Precision-guidedmunitions, Remotely piloted vehicles, Unmanned aerial vehicles
Since the end of World War II, command of military air power in the United States has been doctrinallyinvestedinasinglecommander,usuallyanairman.Thiscasestudyconsistsoffourseparate examinationsoftheuseofcombatairpowerbetween1991and2003.Ineachcase,thecommand andcontrolarchitecture,whilesetupforcentralizedcommandandcontrolofairpower,wasinevitablymodi£edbasedondifferingpoliticalandmilitarycontextsofeachcon™ictaswellastheneed to adjust to the inherent uncertainties of con™ict. It is these uncertainties that required responsive feedbackfromtheCombatAirOperationsSystems(CAOS),whichwasoftendif£culttoachievein thecentralizedcommandarchitecture.Ourstudyobservedresponsivefeedbackloopsatmultiple levelsoforganizationhierarchy,whicharemanifestedbylateralconnectionsacrossorganizational boundaries.Ourinsightfromthestudyofthesecon™ictsisthatseniorcommandersofcomplex organizations must devote time to organizational design; speci£cally they should consider establishinglateralconnectionsacrossorganizationalboundariesandexplicitlydesigntheseinteractions andtraintheirpeopletomakedecisionsinacollaborativeenvironmentwithmultilevelfeedback loopsinmind.Creatinglateralhierarchicalorganizationscanenablemilitarycommanderstobalancebothef£ciencyandeffectivenessintheapplicationofmilitaryforcetoachievepoliticalobjectives. We think that these insights are relevant to senior leaders in the system design and acquisition world as well as in other areas of commercial endeavor.
