As written in The Conversation by Andrea Charron, Professor and Director, Centre for Defence and Security Studies.
Canada and its allies use many terms to describe how military operations are conducted. These terms are not interchangeable. They fall along a spectrum of complexity, integration, domains and the number of entities involved.
At one end are operations confined to a single service — the army, navy or air force — and a single domain: land, sea, air, cyber or space. At the other end lies something far more ambitious: fully integrated, long-term efforts that bring together not just the military but government departments, allies, industry and even society itself.
Western militaries must be prepared to operate across this entire spectrum in peace, crisis and war. The terminology is often confusing, but it shapes how militaries organize, train and operate, and increasingly how they co-ordinate with civilian organizations to counter threats to critical infrastructure and daily life.
Joint operations
Let’s begin with what is most familiar: joint operations. They involve two or more military services (for example, the army and air force) working under a single commander. While this sounds straightforward, it’s not.
Each service has its own culture, expertise and way of planning and operating. Integrating them is difficult. Canada, for example, dedicates nearly a year to training mid-level officers to operate effectively in joint environments.
Even then, integration is often limited. Services may co-ordinate closely but still act largely within their own domains — the air force in the skies, the army on land, the navy at sea. Integration exists, but it is often sequential rather than fully fused.
Read the full article at The Conversation.
