Section II. LAND FORCE DOMINANCE

    Land Force Dominance consists of those actions and functions throughout the height, width, and depth of an area of operations designed to accomplish the assigned mission. These action and functions may be executed against a single decisive point, simultaneously against multiple decisive points, or sequentially against multiple decisive points based on the factors of METT-TC (mission enemy, terrain and weather, troops, time available and civil considerations). Land force dominance is the Army's basic operational concept and applies to all four types of military operations: offense, defense, stability and support. This concept describes how a commander should think about operations using battlefield organization and operational continuum. The goal of Land Force Dominance is to accomplish the mission through simultaneous precision operations distributed in space against multiple objectives, but concentrated in time to break the moral and coherance of the enemy force and cause its defeat through disintegration, not through attrition. Each operation creates an effect, the sum of which is greater than if each operation were discrete.

Figure 1-2

    The Army adopted Land Force Dominance as its umbrella concept in reaction to the opportunities and dangers found in today's dynamic security environment. The disappearance of an echeloned heavy threat in Europe, advances in technology, advances in information systems the commander's capability to synchronize the effects of his combat power and assist in task organizing his forces for the mission and terrain within his area of operation. Ordinarily, divisions are the smallest echelon that command and control multiple, simultaneous, decisive operations in offensive and defensive actions.

1-5. BATTLEFIELD ORGANIZATION

    The battlefield organization facilitates the commander's execution of simultaneous operations by providing a way to visualize how to employ his forces against the enemy. It helps the commander relate his subordinate forces to one another, to the mission and to the enemy in terms of time, space, resources, and purpose. This framework also assists in establishing geographical areas of operations for accomplishing specific tactical tasks, such as river crossing.

    Battlefield visualization (Army): The process whereby the commander develops a clear understanding of his current state with relation to the enemy and environment, envisions a desired end state, and then subsequently visualizes the sequence of activity that will move his force from its current state to the end state. The commander articulates a battlefield vision through an intent statement which guides the development of a concept for the operation and subsequent execution of the mission. (FM 101-5-1, p 1-18)

    A battlefield organization consists of decisive, shaping and sustaining operations replaces the previous battlefield organization of deep, close and rear operations. (However, commanders can still use the terms deep and close to refer to the geographic relationship of friendly and enemy forces.) The components (decisive, shaping and sustaining) are based on the effects they achieve, not who does them and their geographic location. This battlefield organization also replaces the terms main and supporting efforts with the terms decisive and shaping, allowing the commander to establish priorities and guide the allocation of resources. Decisive and shaping operations are nested, ultimately focusing on the enemy center of gravity.

    Each brigade shown in the figure has no more than one decisive operation. As depicted, two or more units may be involved in the conduct of decisive operations. The middle division is simultaneously directing multiple brigades in multiple decisive operation. The right division is conducting shaping operations with one of its brigades conducting a decisive operation in support of the division's shaping operation.

    Decisive Operations are those actions applying military capabilities to accomplish the most important task and purpose at a given time, whose success will make the most difference in the accomplishment of the higher commander's mission. The commander designates activities that directly accomplish his mission as his decisive operation(s) in his concept of operation. Every decisive operation has an objective. The commander must be able to shift his decisive operations quickly to take advantage of opportunities as they are discovered or created. The commander can use the following techniques to ensure that the effects of overwhelming combat power are available to subordinates conducting decisive operations:

• Narrowing the boundaries or decreasing the size of the area of operations to increase the concentration of combat power.

• Reinforcing the decisive operation with extra combat power.

• Allocating priority for CS and CSS to the decisive operation.

• Planning employment options for reserves to support decisive operations.

• Conducting shaping operations to fix enemy forces outside the area of decisive operations.

• Sequencing actions.

• Phasing operations.

Figure 1-3

    Decisive point (Army): 1. A point, if retained, that provides a commander with a marked advantage over his opponent. Decisive points are usually geographic in nature but could include other physical elements, such as enemy formations, command posts, and communications nodes. 2. A time or location where enemy weakness is positioned that allows overwhelming combat power to be generated against it. It could be an enemy weakness to be exploited or a time when the combat potential of the enemy force is degraded. 3. Conveys to subordinates a potential point of decision that the commander has identified through his estimate process to apply overwhelming combat power. (FM 101-5-1, p 1-46)

    Shaping operations consist of all action applying military capabilities to set the conditions for decisive operations. The goal of shaping operations is to reduce the enemy capability to fight in a coherent manner before or while the commander executes one or more decisive operations. A commander allocates only minimum essential combat power to his shaping operations to ensure that each decisive operation has overwhelming combat power. Shaping operations include denying the enemy use of terrain or movement of friendly troops to positions of advantage, denying use of the electromagnetic spectrum, and destroying or degrading his essential capabilities.

    Sustainment operations include logistics and CSS operations to support friendly forces and the security and maintenance of the sustainment base to include lines of communications. By their nature, sustainment operations are not decisive; however, failure in these operations can ause the overall effort to fail.

1-6 OPERATIONAL CONTINUUM

    Land Force Dominance takes place in an operational continuum defined by the:

• Number of decisive operation (single or multiple)

• Sequencing of decisive operations (simultaneous or sequential)

• Organization of the area of operations (contiguous or noncontiguous areas of operations).

    The commander chooses where he conducts his operation based upon his situational understanding of the factors of METT-TC and his relative combat power. That choice is always in an environment of uncertainty and always entails some risk.

Figure 1-4