Editing Military doctrine (section)

===United Kingdom===
For some 280 years the British Army did not have a formal 'Military Doctrine', although a huge number of publications dealing with tactics, operations and administration had been produced. However, during his tenure as Chief of the General Staff (1985–89) [[Nigel Bagnall|General Sir Nigel Bagnall]] directed that British Military Doctrine was to be prepared, and tasked Colonel (later General) [[Timothy Granville-Chapman]] (an artillery officer who had been his Military Assistant in Headquarters 1st British Corps) to prepare it. The first edition of British Military Doctrine (BMD) was published in 1988. It led to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force developing their own maritime and air-power doctrines. However, in 1996 the first edition of British Defence Doctrine (BDD) was published, drawing heavily on the BMD. The Army adopted BDD as their Military Doctrine. The fourth edition of BDD was published in 2011; it uses the NATO definition of doctrine.

NATO underpins the defence of the UK and its Allies, while also providing deployable expeditionary capabilities to support and defend UK interests further afield.  However, until recently, most NATO doctrine has been mirrored by equivalent, but different, national Joint Doctrines.  This has often caused a dilemma for UK Armed Forces committed to operations as part of a NATO-based coalition.

In 2012, the Chief of Defence Staff and Permanent Undersecretary for Defence issued direction on how the UK contribution to NATO could be improved, stating that 'We should use NATO doctrine wherever we can, and ensure coherence of UK doctrine with NATO wherever we cannot.'

The 2014 edition of [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jdp-0-01-fourth-edition-british-defence-doctrine Joint Doctrine Publication (JDP) 0-01 UK Defence Doctrine] reflects this change in policy.

However, the British Army had formal publications for a long time, and these amounted to its doctrine. ''Field Service Regulations'' (FSR), on the Prussian pattern, were published in 1906 and with amendments and replacement editions lasted into the Second World War. They required each arm and service to produce their own specific publications to give effect to FSR. After the Second World War FSR were replaced by various series of manuals, again with specific training pamphlets for each arm and service. These deal with operational and tactical matters.

The current capstone publication for the army is Army Doctrine Publication ''Operations'' alongside maritime and air-power equivalents and joint warfare publications all under the umbrella of BDD. The four layers constituting "land doctrine" are summarised as:
* [http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/FDB67DF9-5835-47FD-897D-CA82C17EC7A5/0/20111130jdp001_bdd_Ed4.pdf British Defence Doctrine] – provides philosophy
* Joint (and Allied) Operational Doctrine and Capstone Environmental Doctrine ([http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DCDC/OurPublications/JDWP/Jdp01Campaigning.htm JDP 01 Joint Operations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414103142/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DCDC/OurPublications/JDWP/Jdp01Campaigning.htm |date=2011-04-14 }} [http://www.nato.int/docu/stanag/ajp1/AJP-01-D.pdf AJP-01 Allied Joint Operations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815175004/http://www.nato.int/docu/stanag/ajp1/AJP-01-D.pdf |date=2011-08-15 }} [http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DCDC/OurPublications/JDWP/ArmyDoctrinePublicationadpOperations.htm ADP Operations] – provides principles
* Joint Functional and Thematic Doctrine such as JDP 5-00 Campaign Planning and JDP 3-40 Security and Stabalisation provide doctrine on specific areas or themes. JDP 5-00([http://mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/56AAAE6B-0728-4D10-A6AB-DBBE30B957B8/0/JDP5002ndEdCh1web.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414105400/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/56AAAE6B-0728-4D10-A6AB-DBBE30B957B8/0/JDP5002ndEdCh1web.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414105400/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/56AAAE6B-0728-4D10-A6AB-DBBE30B957B8/0/JDP5002ndEdCh1web.pdf |archive-date=2011-04-14 |url-status=live |date=2011-04-14 }}) JDP 3-40([http://mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C403A6C7-E72C-445E-8246-D11002D7A852/0/20091201jdp_40UDCDCIMAPPS.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516150544/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C403A6C7-E72C-445E-8246-D11002D7A852/0/20091201jdp_40UDCDCIMAPPS.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204124401/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C403A6C7-E72C-445E-8246-D11002D7A852/0/20091201jdp_40UDCDCIMAPPS.pdf |archive-date=2009-12-04 |url-status=live |date=2011-05-16 }})
* Army Field Manual (two volumes) – provides practices
* Land component handbooks and special to arm publications – provide procedures

The ''Army Field Manual'' comprises Volumes 1 (Combined Arms Operations) in 12 parts led by "Formation Tactics" and "Battlegroup Tactics", and Volume 2 (Operations in Specific Environments) in 6 parts (desert, urban, etc.).

BDD is divided into two parts: "Defence Context" and "Military Doctrine". Defence Context deals with two matters. First, the relationship between Defence policy and military strategy, and—while highlighting the utility of force – emphasizes the importance of addressing security issues through a comprehensive, rather than an exclusively military, approach. Second it expounds the Nature of and the [[Principles of War]], the three Levels of Warfare (Strategic, Operational and Tactical) and its evolving character. The ten Principles of War are a refined and extended version of those that appeared in FSR between the two world wars and based on the work of [[JFC Fuller]].

The Military Doctrine states that it comprises national Joint Doctrine, Higher Level Environmental Doctrine, Tactical Doctrine, Allied Doctrine and doctrine adopted or adapted from ad hoc coalition partners. The part deals with three matters. First it describes the likely employment of the British Armed Forces in pursuit of Defence policy aims and objectives. Next it explains the three components of fighting power (conceptual, physical and moral components) and the criticality of the operating context to its effective application. Finally it describes the British approach to the conduct of military operations—"the British way of war". This includes mission command, the manoeuvrist approach and a warfighting ethos that requires accepting risks.

The BDD is linked to a variety of unclassified policy documents such as Defence White Papers and Strategic Defence Reviews, as well as classified Strategic Planning Guidance. The current, 2011, edition of BDD is underpinned by recent developmental and conceptual publications such as ''The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007–2036'' and ''The High Level Operational Conceptual Framework'', which comprises specific army, navy and air force publications.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jdp-0-01-fourth-edition-british-defence-doctrine |title = UK Defence Doctrine (JDP 0-01) |date = 19 December 2014|publisher = www.gov.uk}}</ref>