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Measures of Success (MOSs)––measurable attributes or target values for success within the
overall mission in an operational environment that are typically driven by the mission objectives
of the blue force.
Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs)––measurable military effects or target values for success that
come from executing tasks and activities to achieve the MOS.
Measures of Performance (MOPs)––measurable performance characteristics or target parameters
of systems or actors used to carry out the mission tasks or military effect.
For the purposes of mission
engineering, there is a hierarchy of
measures and metrics which provides a
logical decomposition of the ends and
means to accomplish the overall
mission objective and its related tasks.
Typically, there is an overall
operational objective to be evaluated to
determine whether a mission is deemed
successful or not. Measures of success
help quantify this objective, support the
purpose statement, and answer the
investigative questions. These
measures should help to quantify
impacts to the mission outcomes or
end-state. Measures of success could be
derived from source documents
describing specific missions and
scenarios, such as the Defense Planning
Scenario. An example MOS is the Joint
Force shall defeat 70 percent of the
adversary fleet in less than five days.
One or more MOEs help to characterize
the MOS. Measures of effectiveness
provide a means to assess and evaluate
various actors in the execution of their
tasks. Changes to MOEs (e.g.,
improving a given capability) can result in observations and help build understanding of the
sensitivity correlating to the MOS. An example MOE is the number of red assets destroyed and
the number of targets tracked.
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Air Force Doctrine Publication 3-0, “Operations and Planning,” p. 89, November 4, 2016
ExampleMOSs,MOEs,andMOPs
InaJointForcemissiontostopamajorenemy
groundoffensive,thesuccessofthemission(defined
byMOSs)couldbeassessedbymeasuringthearea
ofthebattlespacestillunderfriendlycontrol.Ifthe
arearemainsunchanged,thentheenemy’s
offensivehasbeenstopped,andthemissionhas
beenasuccess.
AJointForceAirComponentCommander(JFACC)
mightassessmissioneffectiveness(definedby
MOEs)bymeasuringhowmanyofthetargeted
enemyforcescontactedfriendlyforcesincoherent
platoon‐sizeorlargerformations.Ifthatnumberis
small,protectingfriendlytroopsandeffectively
bluntingtheenemyoffensive,[then]theJFACCmay
concludethattheblueforces’effortswere
effective—andthattheydidtherightthing.
TheJFACCmightassess[blue]forceperformance
(definedbyMOPs)bymeasuringthenumberof
interdictionsortiessuccessfullyflownagainstenemy
follow‐onforces.Ifblueforcesflewtheplanned
numberofsortiesormorewithoutloss,theJFACC
canassessthatblueforcesaredoingthingsright.
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