IPB, when applied in a LIC environment, integrates threat doctrine and operational patterns with weather and terrain and political, social, and economic information. Then it relates these factors to the specific mission and situation.
IPB provides a basis for determining and evaluating the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and probable COA of the threat, local population, HN government, and military. It also serves as the planning basis for the commander’s concept of operations and for allocating resources. This allocation could be engineers for disaster relief, special forces for FID, or a Ranger battalion for an airfield seizure.
IPB is interdependent with the intelligence cycle and the factors of analysis. It is not a stand-alone process. It relies on the functions and steps in the intelligence cycle for information. In turn, it provides input to the factors of analysis.
Information becomes intelligent in the processing phase of the intelligence cycle. This information comes from all available sources and agencies. The information processed includes, but is not limited to, demographics, OB, weather, terrain, personality, PSYOP, NBC, air defense, aviation, transportation, and logistics data.
The process of piecing together bits of intelligence into a usable product is done during the factors of analysis process. The end products of IPB are critical because they are the building blocks for recommendations to your commander.
