Joint warfare

Joint warfare is a military doctrine which places priority on the integration of the various service branches of a state's armed forces into one unified command. Joint warfare is in essence a form of combined arms warfare on a larger, national scale, in which complementary forces from a state's army, navy, air, and special forces are meant to work together in joint operations, rather than planning and executing military operations separate from each other.

The United States Department of Defense, which endorses joint warfare as an overriding doctrine for its forces, describes it as "team warfare", which "requires the integrated and synchronized application of all appropriate capabilities. The synergy that results maximizes combat capability in unified action." This priority on national unity of effort means practitioners of joint warfare must acknowledge the importance of the inter-agency process, including the priorities, capabilities, and resources of other non-uniformed agencies (such as intelligence services) in military planning.

Military operations conducted by armed forces from two or more allied countries are also sometimes referred to as combined operations.

See also

• Battlespace
• Contrast with interservice rivalry
• United States armed forces
  • Goldwater-Nichols Act
  • Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • National Security Act of 1947
  • United States Joint Forces Command

References

• United States Department of Defense publication JP 1, "Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States" (pdf document)

External links

• The evolution of joint warfare - Joint Warfighting, Joint Forces Quarterly, Summer 2002
• Toward Combined Arms Warfare: A Survey of 20th-Century Tactics, Doctrine, and Organization - Full view book on Google Book Search