Big Blue Arrows

The monograph examines the friendly information system portion of the battlefield superiority dilemma. It focuses on a very specific portion of operational campaign design: the "Big Blue Arrow," a metaphor for decisive operations requiring the movement of forces to achieve objectives. Since future forces expect information superiority, the monograph seeks to determine whether future transformation forces can apply the lessons of history to better focus information support during operational maneuver. The analysis uses a conceptual model of bases and lines of information based on the writings of Jomini and early Signal Corps doctrine. The study reviews the impact of the telegraph, radio, and computer on operational maneuver from the Civil War to modern conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm and Operation Uphold Democracy. The analysis focuses on fundamental characteristics of responsiveness, mobility, survivability, and sustainability of information systems during movement. The monograph concludes that future forces must plan lines of information to focus support where most needed. Without discipline, military information networks tend to overload weak links at the expense of important information. Although satellite communications and digital computer networks provide great capabilities for transformation forces, fundamental constraints still exist in line-of-sight radio propagation, communications channel capacity, and network congestion.