Fall 2006 - Air & Space Power Chronicle - Air Force Link

New USAF Doctrine PublicationAir Force Doctrine Document 2-1.9, TargetingLT COL J. P. HUNERWADEL, USAF, RETIREDTARGETING HAS BEEN a vital partof air and space operations since anaircraft dropped the first weapon. Ithas evolved from a matter of primitiveguesswork into a discipline based on scientificprinciples and robust processes. Thesefacts are the subject of the Air Force’s newestdoctrine document, AFDD 2-1.9, Targeting, 8June 2006 (http://afdc.maxwell.af.mil).Prior to the appearance of AFDD 2-1.9,most Air Force writing on this difficult subjecttreated it as a separate discipline. Air Force seniorleadership, however, concluded that doctrineon targeting should show the larger contextinto which it fits. A distinct discipline andoperation, targeting also remains an inseparablepart of the overarching processes thatthe Air Force and joint community use to planand fight. As the new document states, “Targetingis integral to the air and space component’swartime battle rhythm and should alwaysbe thought of as part of a larger effects-basedconstruct of planning, execution, and assessment”(vii, 2).AFDD 2-1.9 helps establish this context byexpanding the definition of its subject: “Targetingis the process for selecting and prioritizingtargets and matching appropriate actionsto those targets to create specific desiredeffects that achieve objectives, taking accountof operational requirements and capabilities”(vii, 1). In simpler terms, “targeting helpstranslate strategy into discrete actions againsttargets by matching ways to means” (1). Importantly,the new definition explicitly ties itselfto effects-based operations, whose conceptsand principles AFDD 2-1.9 recaps, explainingthat targeting really involves the best way ofachieving effects with given resources. It encompassesmore than just putting the rightkind of bomb on a fixed target.The doctrine document lays out the followingprecepts, expanding upon existing jointprinciples to offer a comprehensive view ofthe discipline:• Targeting focuses on achieving objectives—itis the end of strategy that developscourses of action, goals, and effectsinto detailed actions against targets.• Fundamentally effects-based, targetingshould consider all possible ways of creatingdesired effects and not focus justupon destruction or other “traditional”means.• Targeting is part of a larger set of processes,including formal planning, thejoint air estimate process, and the taskingcycle that ultimately produces guidancesuch as the daily air tasking order.• Because of targeting’s interdisciplinarynature, it requires the efforts of personnelfrom many functional areas—notsimply “operators” or “intel types.”• Targeting is inherently estimative and anticipatory;that is, matching actions andeffects to targets requires estimating andanticipating future outcomes.53