The difficulty is judgment calls specifying the level of damage between these two extremes. Intermediate damage definitions are dependent on target type and the ease of assessing damage. In determining the level of physical damage, a confidence level is assigned to indicate the assurance of the assessment. Collateral damage is defined as unintentional or incidental damage affecting facilities, equipment, or personnel occurring as a result of military actions directed against targeted enemy forces or facilities. Initial reports are often based primarily on visual observation of the target and usually derived from a single source.
Further analysis continues with all-source reporting resulting in further supplemental reports.
Figure 5 below illustrates the flow of these reports. The command designated BDA cell is responsible for collating reports and making the final assessment. Phase II BDA-Functional Damage Assessment. I damage assessments and amplifies the initial analysis. The level of success is based upon the operational objectives established against the target.