A military operation plan (also called a war plan before World War II) is a formal

plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. ...

for military armed forces, their military organizations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process in achieving objectives before or during a

conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...

. Military plans are generally produced in accordance with the

military doctrine Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, rather than being hard and fast rules. Doctrine provides a common frame of reference across ...

of the troops involved. Because planning is a valuable exercise for senior military staff, in peacetime nations generally produce plans (of varying detail) even for very unlikely hypothetical scenarios.

Plan XVII Plan XVII () was the name of a "scheme of mobilization and concentration" that was adopted by the French (the peacetime title of the French ) from 1912 to 1914, to be put into effect by the French Army in the event of war between France and G ...

and the Schlieffen Plan are examples of World War I military plans. The United States developed a famous color-coded set of war plans in the early 20th century; see United States color-coded war plans. Military plans often have

code name A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial ...

United States

In the U.S. military, an Operation Plan (OPLAN) is a complete and detailed plan for conducting joint military operations.Joint Publication 5-0.
Joint Operation Planning
''. 26 December 2006. Accessed 21 August 2010. An OPLAN is developed by the Combatant Commander (CCDR) of a

Unified Combatant Command A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, a ...

in response to actual or potential situations for which military operations may be required. An OPLAN is executed when the commander issues an operations order (OPORD), or when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) issues an execute order (EXORD) at the direction of the United States Secretary of Defense (Secdef) to implement a decision by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

to initiate military operations. A concept plan (CONPLAN) is an operation plan in concept form, often lacking the level of details normally found in other military plans. Among publicly known U.S. Operations Plans are two which address possible events on the Korean Peninsula,

OPLAN 5027 Operations Plan 5027 (OPLAN 5027) are a series of military operations plans made by the United States and South Korea for the defense against a possible North Korean invasion. History Before 1973, OPLAN 5027 was primarily focused on defeating ...

, the U.S. general war plan which has been regularly updated since at least the mid-1990s, and

OPLAN 5029 OPLAN 5029 is a proposed military operation plan by the United States and South Korea for dealing with "sudden change" in North Korea, such as a coup d'état, revolution, large scale defections, outflow of weapons of mass destruction, hostage s ...

, a plan catering to a sudden collapse of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

OPLAN 8044 The Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) was the United States' general plan for nuclear war from 1961 to 2003. The SIOP gave the President of the United States a range of targeting options, and described launch procedures and target sets ag ...

and

OPLAN 8010 A military operation plan (also called a war plan before World War II) is a formal plan for military armed forces, their military organizations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process in ac ...

are both successor plans to the

Single Integrated Operational Plan The Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) was the United States' general plan for nuclear war from 1961 to 2003. The SIOP gave the President of the United States a range of targeting options, and described launch procedures and target sets ag ...

, the general plan for nuclear war from 1961 to 2003. OPLAN 1003-98 was the pre-2002 plan for war with Iraq.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...

the successful planning of multinational military operations requires common doctrine. This doctrine is documented in Allied Joint Publication (AJP) five, which is aimed primarily at those engaged in operational-level planning, specifically commanders and staffs employed in joint force command headquarters and component command headquarters. It describes the fundamental aspects of planning joint operations at the operational level and provides an overarching framework of the key planning principles, considerations and process steps that are followed in operational-level planning.

References

External links

Operation Plans (OPLAN)
- from GlobalSecurity.org

Command and control Military operations {{mil-stub

United States

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

See also

References

External links