On Hybrid Warfare and “How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin” (2/2): Moving Towards Greater Military Coherence

In a recent doctrinal paper entitled “L’Europe peut se défendre seule” (“Europe Can Defend Itself”), Air Force General Éric Autellet, who served as Major General of the French Armed Forces – the second-highest military post in France – from 2021 to 2023, made a particularly illuminating observation that deserves to be quoted in full:

“The first problem facing European defence is not money, but coherence. Unlike a budget, coherence cannot be voted through every year. (…) If Europe wants to be capable of defending itself in 2050, it must not only devote an exceptional budget to that aim, but also align its research, equipment, human resources, doctrine and strategic resolve to create a coherent and credible whole. (…) Defence budgets may be rising across Europe, but without a coordinated political vision they will merely produce fragmented capabilities and duplicated production lines.”

Indeed, the ability of any political entity to defend itself depends first and foremost on the military coherence of its forces. That depends only partly on military “capabilities” in the narrow sense – equipment – and also on their performance and quantity, industry’s ability to replace them after the initial shock, the training and discipline of those operating them, how they are employed, the strategy pursued by their commanders, and the ability to move them to the battlefield (assuming that the distinction between “front line” and “rear” still makes sense in the war unfolding before our eyes). Many other factors are involved, only partly captured by the acronym DORESE used by the French armed forces (Doctrine, Organisation, Human Resources, Equipment, Force Support and Training) and its NATO equivalent, DOTMLPF-I (Doctrine, Organisation, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities and Interoperability).

Such military coherence is built up over time through the repeated conduct of two types of exercises.