scope:

PREFACE

The NATO Handbook of Land Operations Terminology is the result of the work of a terminology committee that originated in the NATO Land Operations Working Group (LOWG). It was developed to supplement and extend the land operations terminology that AAP-06, NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions, already contains.

Because the focus of AAP-06, as stated in its preface (2014), is limited to "(i) general terminology with a specific military meaning" and "(ii) specialist terminology that needs to be widely understood throughout NATO," the LOWG, along with several other Military Committee Land Board working groups, found it necessary to develop a handbook, independent from AAP-06, containing a compilation of definitions for an expanded set of terms that focus specifically on land operations, but whose applications are too special for inclusion in AAP-06.

The aim of this handbook is to help enhance mutual understanding among the Alliance members and their other multinational partners in areas such as command and control, logistics, peacekeeping operations, crisis response operations, etc., across the entire continuum of operations, from peacemaking to general war. This handbook cannot and does not presume to encompass the totality of terms currently employed within the NATO land community. A future intention of this handbook is to incorporate terminology from other NATO specialized land glossaries (for example, artillery, communications, engineering, etc.) in order to become as complete as possible.

The Handbook is divided into three parts:

1. Part I: User's guide, which explains how each entry is formatted and gives a number of examples illustrating all possible variations of the basic format.

2. Part II: English land operations terms and definitions in English alphabetical order.

3. Part III: French land operations terms and definitions in French alphabetical order. The terminology database of this handbook will be updated and expanded periodically to reflect developments in NATO land forces commitment doctrine and concepts for operations.