501.1 Comprehend the relationship between national objectives and means availability within the framework provided by the joint planning processes. [I.4(a)]

501.11 Explain the relationship between national objectives & strategy to military objectives and strategy.

• The NCA forms the National Objectives which are then changed into a National Strategy in order to obtain the National Objectives.
• The CINC.s take the National Strategy and change it into broad Military Objectives
• From the Military Objectives the JFC forms a Military Strategy
• From the Game
• The NCA has articulated the U.S. national objectives as:

1. Taking all necessary measures to defend the territorial integrity of Thailand and,
2. If necessary, destroy the ability of Vietnam to conduct offensive operations against Thailand.

• In order to successfully achieve these national objectives, the Joint Force Commander (JFC) has translated these into broad military objectives which support their attainment:

1. Gaining and maintaining theater air superiority,
2. Halting the Vietnamese invasion,
3. Destroying the ability of Vietnamese forces to control and sustain offensive operations,
4. Counterattacking to restore the international boundary,

He has instructed the Joint Force Land Component Commander to initially adopt a defensive stance and to be prepared to counterattack on order. As the player of Tropic Thunder, you are cast in the position of the Joint Force Air Component Commander (JFACC). The JFC has given you latitude to plan and execute air operations in support of his military objectives. You are free to employ air assets throughout the theater, with the exception that you are prohibited from violating Chinese airspace.

501.2 Comprehend the principles, concepts, and procedures taught at ACSC and how they fit into a Master Attack Plan (MAP) for a war game exercise.

An example would be an ATO from the game. This is a brief description of how to play.

In this exercise, you will be making decisions that would otherwise originate with the Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC): apportioning total air resources among the various tasks; defining targets and allocating aircraft; determining force requirements to achieve destruction or disruption levels; tasking aircraft individually or in packages; and selecting weapon loads to support employment requirements. The computer program will hint at the right number of aircraft for bombing missions, and at the optimum weapon for that particular aircraft to use against that particular target. Although it will take some time to develop and carry out your campaign plan, it is doable--regardless of whether or not you have an operational (i.e., flying) background.

The TROPIC THUNDER Missions and Tasks section that follows this section provides an overview of each type of TROPIC THUNDER task you may assign, offers planning considerations, and lists questions you will want to consider in the process of defining your air employment plan.

In this exercise there are nine tasks to which you can assign aircraft. These tasks correspond to Air Force Manual 1-1 missions as listed below. The tasks provide greater ability to visualize exactly what your aircraft are doing. If we had used only the AFM 1-1 missions, we would have lost some of the ability to track the actions of the campaign: for example, if a plane was tasked to fly a counterair mission, you wouldn't know whether it was sitting on the end of the runway as a defensive interceptor or bombing enemy airfields.

The following table lists the nine TROPIC THUNDER Tasks and the AFM 1-1 Missions.

Other Air Force missions such as Airlift, Base Operability and Defense, Logistics, and Combat Support are abstracted.

Reconnaissance missions may be flown pre- and post-attack. Pre-attack recce missions may be flown to obtain data for mission planning purposes, whereas post-attack missions are flown to determine the success of missions. In either case, recce is flown to obtain accurate bomb damage assessments. Pilot reports (in the exercise generated by the computer) may or may not be valid, which is real-world; hard copy pictures, video, radar images collected by recce are valid, which is real-world too, usually!

Intelligence is necessary for three major reasons. First, it provides us with information on what the elements or nodes of the enemy system are. Second, and most importantly, it provides us with information on what the relationships or links between those nodes are. Without both of these pieces of information it is impossible for us to determine cascading effects and hence critical nodes. Finally, information on the enemy's objectives can provide insight into how the enemy may employ its systems which may in turn affect the links in those systems. (OS 501)

Strategic:

• Incorporates the broadest concerns of national policy.
• Concerned with planning (making strategy)
• Each level is concerned with implementing strategy.
• Corresponding to the 3 levels of war are the national strategy with its three sub- components (political, economic and military) operational, strategy and battlefield.
• Strategic military strategy is the art and science of coordinating the development and use of the military instrument of power to achieve the national objective

Operational:

• Focuses on campaigns.
• Operational strategy is the art and science of planning, orchestrating and directing military campaigns within the theater of operations to achieve national objectives

Tactical:

• Focuses on battles and engagements.
• While Battlefield strategy (tactics) is the art and the science of employing the forces on the battlefield to achieve national objectives.

Functional and Service components of the joint force conduct subordinate and supporting operations, not independent campaigns. Joint force commanders (JFCs) synchronize the actions of air, land, sea, space, and special operations forces to achieve strategic and operational objectives through integrated, joint campaigns and major operations. The goal is to increase the total effectiveness of the joint force, not necessarily to involve all forces or to involve all forces equally. The authority vested in a commander must be commensurate with the responsibility assigned. All Service forces (except as noted in title 10, US Code, section 162) are assigned to combatant commands by the Secretary of Defense "Forces for Unified Commands" memorandum. A force assigned or attached to a combatant command may be transferred from that command only as directed by the Secretary of Defense and under procedures prescribed by the Secretary of Defense and approved by the President. Establishing authorities for subordinate unified commands and joint task forces may direct the assignment or attachment of their forces to those subordinate commands as appropriate. When forces are transferred, the command relationship the gaining commander will exercise over those forces must be specified. Planning for employment of joint teams begins with articulating and understanding the objective, purpose of the operations, and commander's intent (the commander's vision of the end state to be achieved). JFCs issue prioritized mission-type orders to subordinate commanders and define command relationships to facilitate mission accomplishment consistent with their concept of operations.

This section presents discussion of some typical packages which can serve as a starting point for developing your TROPIC THUNDER mission packages. First, some general planning considerations regarding aircraft:

1. F-16s and F-15s usually employ in four-ship formations and should be tasked in multiples of four when able. At a minimum they should be tasked in two-ship elements. Regarding combat radii, in this exercise the F-15 can employ at whatever range the F-16 can attack. Note: There are no range limitations in this particular exercise.

2. F-16 Wild Weasels fly in pairs (elements). The more that can be made available to support a given package, the better (typically four to eight for an OCA/AI effort). Wild Weasels have a slightly shorter combat range than F-16s, but have sufficient fuel to open an ingress corridor through enemy surface-to-air missile sites (via detection, then destruction and/or harassment) and remain on station until the attack force is "on target."

3. Based on the mutually supporting capabilities of the two systems, operations may include having F-16 Wild Weasel aircraft and F-15 air superiority aircraft ingress to the target area together. Doing so would permit both weapons systems to be employed from optimum medium and high altitudes, while providing simultaneous fighter and SAM suppression support.

4. F-117 attack aircraft fly as singles or elements of two aircraft and can be targeted throughout the exercise area. Even when flying enroute in groups larger than two, they typically attack as singles. The force package should consist of only F-117, due to the unique capabilities of these aircraft. (Other type aircraft would highlight the location of the F-117 and deny it the use of its stealth.)

5. EA-6B could be tasked to provide EW support for multiple OCA/AI/CAS packages spanning a several hour period. This assumes that the EA-6B is employed in a stand-off role. If required, the EA-6B is capable of penetration with the attack force package, but the target must be of very high value/importance to risk loss of this limited aircraft. NOTE: in this exercise, EA-6B aircraft tasked as "EW" will be in area suppression mode. If they are tasked as "SEAD," then they escort a particular mission package.

6. F-16s, when used as reconnaissance aircraft, may be tasked as singles or elements of two aircraft. Flying in elements increases survivability and provides camera/sensor redundancy. In this exercise, as in the real world, accurate intelligence is only possible with reconnaissance. If you don't fly "recce," you get an aircrew report which may or may not be correct. In this exercise, when you task F-16s to fly recce, they upload the recce pod.

7. OA-10s fly in elements (two) or as four-ships. While the OA-10 can remain airborne for several hours, its speed is slow in comparison to the other fighter aircraft. It is generally not suited for combining with other type aircraft in a force package. Regarding the "typical" force package, consider some applicable lessons from the past in General Momyer's guidelines (from his book, Air Power in Three Wars, p. 220):

Thus a "typical" OCA/AI package today might consist of 16 F-16s, eight F-15s, and eight Wild Weasels. In the Gulf packages varied in size up to 80 or more aircraft. A primary coordination challenge in composite force missions (several force packages of possibly dissimilar aircraft) is that of aircraft deconfliction during ingress, in the target area, and on egress. This is a mission commander's responsibility. He assigns routings, altitudes, and timing considerations for all formations involved, to:

1. deceive the enemy regarding intended axis/area of attack,
2. deny the enemy use of early warning radars, ground control radars, and radio communications,
3. afford maximum opportunity for employment of beyond-visual-range (BVR) missile firing opportunities for F-15s,
4. open a "window" through the SAM threats, and,
5. most importantly, afford the best (and alternative) air-to-surface delivery options for attack aircraft. (On occasion, the staff planner can and should assist the mission commander in the deconfliction effort by notifying him via instructions in the Air Tasking Order if there is a known conflict with other tasked missions).

(Scenario)

Assigned forces are those forces that have been placed under the combatant command (command authority) of a unified commander by the Secretary of Defense in his "Forces For Unified Commands" memo. Forces and resources so assigned are available for normal peacetime operations of that command.

Apportioned forces and resources are those made available for deliberate planning as of a certain date. They may include those assigned, those expected through mobilization, and those programmed. They are apportioned by the JSCP for use in developing deliberate plans and may be more or less than those allocated for execution planning.

Allocated forces and resources are those provided by the NCA for execution planning or actual implementation. The allocation of forces and resources is accomplished through procedures established for crisis action planning.

In this exercise, you will be making decisions that would otherwise originate with the Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC): apportioning total air resources among the various tasks; defining targets and allocating aircraft; determining force requirements to achieve destruction or disruption levels; tasking aircraft individually or in packages; and selecting weapon loads to support employment requirements. The computer program will hint at the right number of aircraft for bombing missions, and at the optimum weapon for that particular aircraft to use against that particular target. Although it will take some time to develop and carry out your campaign plan, it is doable--regardless of whether or not you have an operational (i.e., flying) background.

Thesis: ACSC students have acquired enough knowledge in air and space power and joint operations to develop an efficient plan to deal with the TROPIC THUNDER scenario. The student will develop a plan to create operational, strategic, and psychological effects in order to achieve a predetermined end state. The fog and friction of war usually requires changes to a pre-hostilities plan. It is crucial to success that military officers are able to respond to a changing scenario in a timely and efficient manner and, in addition, determine causal relationships of events.