Independent study resource — not an official Department of Defense website

How this site sources its material
Publication index
ADP 3-90

Offense and Defense

ADP 3-90 holds the fundamentals of offensive and defensive operations: the forms of maneuver, the types of attacks, and the forms of the defense. It is the doctrinal parent for FM 3-90, Tactics, which carries the detail. If a board asks about the four types of offensive operations, this is where the answer lives.

Open the official record
Type
ADP
Edition verified
July 2019
Used in
Board Prep

What to take from it

  • Offensive operations: movement to contact, attack, exploitation, and pursuit.
  • Defensive operations: area defense, mobile defense, and retrograde.
  • Forms of maneuver include envelopment, turning movement, infiltration, penetration, flank attack, and frontal attack.
  • Supersedes ADP 3-90 dated 13 August 2018.

These points are our summary, written for recall. They are not a substitute for the publication and they will not cover everything a board can ask. Read the source.