Doctrine 101 PDF

Air Force Doctrine
We Produce the Future

The Role of Doctrine
Develop America's Airmen Today ... for Tomorrow
At the very heart of warfare lies doctrine. It

represents the central beliefs for waging war in
order to achieve victory. Doctrine is of the mind, a
network of faith and knowledge reinforced by
experience which lays the pattern for the
utilization of men, equipment, and tactics. It is
the building material for strategy. It is
fundamental to sound judgment.
~ General Curtis Emerson LeMay, 1968
Air University: The Intellectual and Leadership Center of the Air Force
Fly – Fight – Win 2
Doctrine is …
• How you organize and employ

• The agreed upon, operationally relevant
body of best practices and principles
• Supported by:
• History
• Debate and analysis
• Exercises, wargames, contingencies
• Official advice (i.e., authoritative, but not
directive)
NOTE: Information in this briefing is
available in the Doctrine Primer:
https://www.doctrine.af.mil/Doctrine-
Publications/Doctrine-Primer/
Value of Doctrine
• Guides how to organize, present, deploy and employ

• Organize based on doctrine, not ad hoc arrangements
• The two key pillars of our doctrine are:

• Principle of War: Unity of Command
• Tenet of Airpower: Mission Command
• Airmen work for Airmen and the senior Airman works for the Joint
Force Commander
• Normally, doctrine is the best way to proceed

• If we must deviate, there should be a clear and compelling operational reason
Why Learn Doctrine?
• Provides common language and frame of reference for discussion

• Essential for communication
• How best to organize and employ airpower: operational suitability
• Impacts emerging / future capabilities
• Provides consistent and “teachable” approach to warfighting:

first step to “think outside the box”
Doctrine is about…
• Warfighting…not physics
• Effects…not weapon systems or platforms
• Using domains…not owning domains
• How to organize…not organizations
• Synergy…not segregation
• Integration… not just synchronization
• The right force … not equal shares of the force
Terminology
• Military operations are guided by the interplay of

• Policy
• Strategy
• Doctrine
• Important to understand their differences
Policy
• Directive guidance stating what is to be accomplished
• Sets overall priorities/direction
• Defines national interest
• States political direction/guiding principles
• Sets political limits
• Bounds the response
• Directive guidance POLICY
• Determined by senior national and military leadership
• Mandatory compliance
• Policy sets the boundaries for doctrine and strategy
• Examples:
• Circumstances for use of nuclear weapons
• Address terrorism in a religion-neutral manner
Strategy
• Is about how to apply available capabilities

• To gain desired ends
• Using approved means
• Within the existing environment
• Considers:
• Objectives
• Threat, politics, personalities, public opinion
STRATEGY
• Alliances, private volunteer organizations, nongovernmental
organizations, government agencies
• Current capabilities/doctrine
• Example:
• Campaign strategy devised to target insurgents with minimum
necessary forces and reduce collateral effects; attack
insurgents’ legitimacy; gain support of population
Doctrine
• Is about how you organize and employ

• Presentation of forces
• Command and control
• Command relationships
• The Air Force’s agreed upon, operationally relevant body
of best practices and principles supported by:
• History DOCTRINE
• Debate and analysis
• Exercises, contingencies
• Doctrine is not dogma
• Example:
• Irregular warfare doctrine developed to provide consistent
guidance in any region; emphasis on decentralized planning and
decision making
Interplay
• Policy governs the use of force

• Shapes strategy
• May affect application of doctrine (e.g., ROE)
• Commanders should advise policy makers on the
potential impacts of deviating from doctrine
DOCTRINE
• Doctrine provides a knowledge base for
making strategy decisions
• How best to apply and organize forces for a
given scenario POLICY STRATEGY
• Success or failure of strategy may affect

policy and doctrine
Doctrine and Concepts
Concepts are: Doctrine is:

Used to develop capabilities to
meet national strategic goals Based on extant capabilities for
force employment
Unproven ideas that should be
rigorously tested; not authoritative
Designed to describe operations
A notion or statement expressing conducted with extant capabilities
how something might be done
Developed to respond to a range of Subject to policy, treaty, and legal

future challenges constraints
Concepts should propose a clear

alternative to existing doctrine
Doctrine Development Venues
Multinational Doctrine
Joint Doctrine 100+ publications
75+ publications
Air Force Doctrine

30 AFDPs
https://www.doctrine.af.mil/
Air Land Sea Space Air Force TTPs

Application Center 101 publications
33 publications
Types of Doctrine
• Service - USAF, USA, USN,

USMC, USSF, USCG
• Joint
‒ Command relationships & authority
‒ Guidance for use of authority
‒ Fundamental principles for C2
‒ Guidance for organizing forces
Types of Doctrine
• Multi-Service • Multinational
‒ Two or more Services ‒ NATO / OTAN
‒ Approved by Service Reps • Standardization Agreements
‒ Typically tactical, not high (STANAGS)
level doctrine
• Allied Joint, Administrative, Tactical,
‒ Air Land Sea Space and Procedural Pubs
Application (ALSSA) Center
‒ Air Force Interoperability Council
• Tactical and Procedural Pubs
Levels of Service Doctrine
The Air Force

(CSAF signs)
Operational Doctrine
(LeMay Ctr/CC signs)
Tactical Doctrine
(TTP) 3-X 3-X 3-X
(Various Signators) ALSSA 561 WPS 423 MTS/MAJCOM/A-Staff
Basic Doctrine
• Foundation of airpower doctrine
• Elemental properties of airpower
• Discussion on the nature of war
• Slow to change compared to other

levels
Operational Doctrine
• Applies principles of basic doctrine

to military action
• Guides proper organization and
employment in the context of….
• Distinct objectives
• Force capabilities
• Broad functional areas
• Operational environments
• Provides focus for mission and
task development executed at the
tactical level of war
• Changes after deliberate internal
debate
Tactical Doctrine
• Describes proper employment

of specific assets
• Considers:
• Objectives
• Conditions
• Closely associated with

weapons systems and
therefore changes more rapidly
What Doctrine Provides
• Description of AF operations across all domains to achieve effects

throughout the competition continuum
• Informs the Air Component Commander and staff on the best ways to
organize, plan, support, and fight with Airpower
• Must provide guidance from peace through major ops
• Expression of the Airman’s perspective in terms best suited to
Airmen and airpower
• Airmen have a different view of operations that complements, but does not
replace, other military instruments of national power
• Should integrate with joint team and sister Services without compromising
basic tenets of Airpower
Focusing on the Air Component Commander keeps the

discussion at the operational level
Who is Doctrine For?
• Air Force doctrine should focus on the Air Component

Commander
• Focused at the operational level
• Defines functions and tasks (common terminology)
• Defines Air Component Commander roles and responsibilities
• Explains roles and responsibilities of the Air Component Commander’s staff
• Explains command relationships
• Provides organizational templates
• Because of this operational-level warfighting focus, not everything

the Air Force does will be visible in doctrine
• Not written to highlight the relevancy of career fields or specific organizations
• Not written to justify programmatics
• Not written to capture buzzwords or catch-phrases of the moment
Questions?
We Produce the Future

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Air Force Doctrine

We Produce the Future

At the very heart of warfare lies doctrine. It

• How you organize and employ

• Guides how to organize, present, deploy and employ

• The two key pillars of our doctrine are:

• Normally, doctrine is the best way to proceed

• Provides common language and frame of reference for discussion

• How best to organize and employ airpower: operational suitability

• Impacts emerging / future capabilities

• Provides consistent and “teachable” approach to warfighting:

• Effects…not weapon systems or platforms

• Using domains…not owning domains

• How to organize…not organizations

• Integration… not just synchronization

• The right force … not equal shares of the force

• Military operations are guided by the interplay of

• Is about how to apply available capabilities

• Is about how you organize and employ

• Policy governs the use of force

• Success or failure of strategy may affect

Concepts are: Doctrine is:

Developed to respond to a range of Subject to policy, treaty, and legal

Concepts should propose a clear

Air Force Doctrine

Air Land Sea Space Air Force TTPs

• Service - USAF, USA, USN,

The Air Force

• Foundation of airpower doctrine

• Elemental properties of airpower

• Discussion on the nature of war

• Slow to change compared to other

• Applies principles of basic doctrine

• Describes proper employment

• Closely associated with

• Description of AF operations across all domains to achieve effects

Focusing on the Air Component Commander keeps the

• Air Force doctrine should focus on the Air Component

• Because of this operational-level warfighting focus, not everything

We Produce the Future

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