Effects -based operations and their comparison with objective- based operations

Abstract

Though effects- based operations started to be used as a method for planning at the beginning of the 90’s, its conceptual application has been used by great military commandants during History. However, after the Persian Gulf War, 1991, some authors presented this type of operations as an alternative to the traditional way of doing war, the main method of which was based on objectives. This article tries to establish differences, similarities, advantages and disadvantages of both concepts in order to go deeper in a topic that is an essential part of planning and, in particular, at operational level.