Operational Art in War

Operational Art in War
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Operational Art in War
Joint forces commanders apply operational art to link ends, ways, and means to attain a positive anticipated end state. Operational art can be conceptualized as the cognitive approach by military commanders and personnel – anchored on competence, experiences, knowledge, judgment, and creativity – to design campaigns, operations, and strategies tailored to organize and deploy military forces by combining ends, means, ways, and risks (Azam, 2019). The commanders during the Gulf War (1990-1991) leveraged operational art to strategically plan and execute the war. The Gulf War commanders used the operational art approach to execute tactical events (i.e., engagements, battles, and declining to join the combat) to identify Iraq’s strategic center of gravity (COG). These actions were anchored on the need to win the war strategically without engaging in long-term ground battles (Wilson, 2019).
According to McKearn (2002), operational art should help commanders utilize resources effectively and efficiently to realize strategic objectives. Accordingly, the commanders employed military forces...