Scribd
Upload
483 views1 page

Understanding Mission Command Principles

Mission command is the British Army's command philosophy that empowers subordinate commanders through mission-type orders to promote initiative, freedom of action, and tempo. It relies on five principles: unity of effort, freedom of action, trust, mutual understanding, and timely decision making. The principles of war provide a framework for warfighting tactics and include selection and maintenance of the aim, concentration of force, maintenance of morale, offensive action, security, surprise, flexibility, cooperation, and sustainability.

Uploaded by

Grozny Grozny
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
483 views1 page

Understanding Mission Command Principles

Mission command is the British Army's command philosophy that empowers subordinate commanders through mission-type orders to promote initiative, freedom of action, and tempo. It relies on five principles: unity of effort, freedom of action, trust, mutual understanding, and timely decision making. The principles of war provide a framework for warfighting tactics and include selection and maintenance of the aim, concentration of force, maintenance of morale, offensive action, security, surprise, flexibility, cooperation, and sustainability.

Uploaded by

Grozny Grozny
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

2-6  |  Army Field Manual I Warfighting Tactics - Part 1 The Fundamentals

Mission command27
2-10. Mission command is the British Army’s command philosophy. This is an approach which
empowers subordinate commanders and promotes initiative as well as freedom and speed
of action. Critically, it focuses on achievement of higher intent through mission-type
orders. It empowers leaders at every level and is intended to generate agility and tempo.
This enables us to overcome an enemy in the most chaotic and demanding circumstances
and unlocks everyone’s potential to seize winning opportunities. Mission command
comprises one guiding principle and five further principles. The fundamental guiding
principle of mission command is the absolute responsibility to act to achieve the superior
commander’s intent. In order to successfully achieve the guiding principle, commanders
rely on the additional principles of mission command, which are: unity of effort, freedom
of action, trust, mutual understanding and timely and effective decision making. There
are practical, sequential actions that guide the effective application of mission command:

„„ Commanders ensure that their subordinates understand their intent, their own contributions and the
context within which they are to act
„„ Commanders exercise minimum control over their subordinates, consistent with the context and nature of
the mission and the experience and ability of subordinates, while retaining responsibility for their actions
„„ Subordinates are told the outcome they are contributing to, the effect that they are to realise and why
„„ Subordinates are allocated sufficient resources to carry out their missions
„„ Subordinates must communicate their plan to the commander to ensure situational awareness

Table 2-1. The application of mission command

Principles of war28
2-11. The principles of war provide comprehensive considerations for warfighting applicable
across the tactical levels of command. Warfighting tactics employs the tactical functions
as the vehicle for planning considerations however the principles of war provide a
complementary framework. The principles of war are:

„„ Selection and maintenance of the aim „„ Concentration of force


„„ Maintenance of morale „„ Economy of effort
„„ Offensive action „„ Flexibility
„„ Security „„ Cooperation
„„ Surprise „„ Sustainability

Table 2-2. The principles of war

27 ADP Land Operations, Chapter 6, Mission Command and AFM Command, Chapter 1-4. The description in AFM
Warfighting Tactics is also consistent with NATO AJP 3.2 Allied Joint Doctrine for Land Operations, Chapter 2-5.
28 The principles of war are defined in ADP Land Operations, Chapter 1, Annex 1A.

You might also like