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Theater boundaries create friction

• The primary operational effect of theater boundaries is the creation of "boundary friction," diminishing operational effectiveness near boundaries.
• Approaches and techniques to allow air assets to be shared across boundaries could be developed, but they would require additional command and staff energy to plan and execute.
• Boundary frictions vary across mission areas.
• Modifying the execute order (EXORD) process to emphasize boundary cooperation has potential value, as does improving connectivity among key command and control air nodes.

In December 2017, the RAND Corporation conducted a tabletop exercise, OCEANS 17, with 50 subject-matter experts from U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and select Department of Defense entities on air operations across the boundaries between geographic combatant commands. The objective of the exercise was to develop innovative approaches to maximize operational effectiveness when using limited numbers of personnel recovery; close air support; and airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets against transregional adversaries across theater boundaries. This report describes the tabletop exercise design, key insights from our analysis of the discussion, and recommendations.

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Objective Analysis. Effective Solutions.