Defence & Strategy

The concept of effect based approach to operations, known as EBO/EBAO, was developed in reaction to the course of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the concept expires. From the beginning, the effect based operations concept had been subject to critical discussions, namely due to the fact that the comprehensive thought process involved in the concept had not been properly understood and its interpretations varied. Primarily, it was not an operation concept, rather, a new operation planning system. It can be also mentioned that the concept was not based on operational art, but on social sciences instead. The concept had not been understood as a deterministic and technology based system, rather, its objective was to support the present day military operations waged among the civilian population. The article deals with some of the fundamental links leading to the expiration of the EBO/EBAO concepts.