A
U.S. Department of Defense Operations Plan (OPLAN) is a complete and detailed plan for conducting
joint military operations. Such plans are developed by the staff of a
unified combatant command in response to actual or potential situations for which military operations may be required. An OPLAN is executed when the commander issues an
operations order (OPORD), or when the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) issues an execute order (EXORD) at the direction of the
United States secretary of defense to implement a decision by the
president to initiate military operations. A concept plan (CONPLAN) is an operation plan in concept form, often lacking the level of details normally found in other military plans. Among publicly known U.S. Operations Plans are two which address possible events on the Korean Peninsula,
OPLAN 5027, the U.S. general war plan which has been regularly updated since at least the mid-1990s, and
OPLAN 5029, a plan catering to a sudden collapse of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
OPLAN 8044 and
OPLAN 8010 are both successor plans to the
Single Integrated Operational Plan, the general plan for nuclear war from 1961 to 2003.
OPLAN 1003-98 was the pre-2002 plan for war with
Iraq. As of 2024, the current general plan is OPLAN 8010–12. ==North Atlantic Treaty Organization==