27
desired political advantage. Military activity at the strategic
level will thus be clearly influenced by political and national
considerations. At the strategic level, military power is one of
the elements of national power available to a state to achieve
its goals and enforce its policies. A military commander at the
strategic level would be required to render advice to political
leaders which should be in the form of strategic inputs through
the established chain of command. Strategy itself has various
levels. At the apex there is ‘grand’ or national strategy which
coordinates the overall approach pertaining to each element of
national power, such as national will, economic, political,
geographic and military power. Whereas military strategy is
only concerned with military operations, grand strategy must,
of necessity, take a long-term view and therefore encompass
all elements of national power. Military strategy has been
defined as the art of distributing and applying military means to
fulfil ends of national policy. A more modern definition could be
‘the art and science of employing the armed forces of a nation
to secure policy objectives by the application of force or threat
of use of force’. In formulating military strategy it is important to
note that it encompasses the following salient aspects: •
Identifying aims and objectives in a theatre of war.
Outlining the general course of major operations
and campaigns.
•
Understanding the restrictions placed on military
operations based on national policy.
•
Allocating adequate
conduct of operations.
•
resources
for
successful
3.4
Operational Perspective. The operational perspective
focuses on achieving military aims or objectives at the theatre
level and coordinating the effort of the land, air and naval
forces where and when applicable. The operational level uses
tactical results to achieve strategic objectives. It involves
planning of a campaign within the specified time and space to
achieve desired strategic goals. Viewed in comparison to the
tactical level, it covers larger areas of conflict, has a larger time
and space horizon and has a more critical impact on theatre