The Evolution of NATO’s Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive

Abstract

The planning of military operations in NATO is conducted in accordance with the basicprinciples, guidelines, and procedures set by the Comprehensive Operations PlanningDirective. This directive is a living document helping operations planning since 2010. Thisstudy presents the philosophy of the Comprehensive Approach and the military operationsplanning in the context thereof. A comprehensive comparison of different versions of thedirective is presented as well. The final conclusion of the study is that the current version isnot the final one of the directive due to the ever-changing security environment and theemerging new challenges: on the basis of the identified trends new versions are expected withthe inclusion of the lessons learned from future exercises and operations.