Toward Greater Cooperation? FM 100-5 and AFDD 1

This monograph compares 1997 draft edition FM 100-5, Operations and 1997 2nd draft edition AFDD 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine to determine if they are complementary with respect to technological superiority, information dominance, and asymmetric force application. Both the Army and the Air Force are anticipating a revolution in military affairs made possible by information collection, processing, storage, and dissemination technologies, in conjunction with precision employment technologies. The monograph concludes that the Army and Air Force doctrine is complementary and that the Army and Air Force have the same understanding of technology superiority, information dominance and asymmetric force application. Differences in emphasis on the importance of these concepts is attributable to the environments in which the Army and Air Force operate. The Army views technology as an enabling factor for military operations while the Air Force views technology as the driving factor for military capability. Both services understand that information dominance as both an objective and a condition and both services see asymmetric engagement as the dissimilar relationship in capability between the object attacked and the attacker. However, the Air Force sees asymmetrical engagement as the primary strength of air power while the Army maintains that asymmetry is an effect that is achieved depending on how a commander employs his operating systems.