ADP-3-19 FIRES Warfighting Function Download
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Chapter 1 1-2 ADP 3-19 31 July 2019 Air-to-surface fires. Surface-to-air fires. Cyberspace operations and EW. Space operations. Multinational fires. Special operations. Information operations. The fires tasks are discussed further in Chapter 2 (Execute Fires) and Chapter 3 (Integrate Army, Multinational, and Joint Fires). THE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT Commanders at all levels must understand the dynamics of their operational environment (OE) to understand the challenges and opportunities they will meet and exploit to achieve objectives. An operational environment is a composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of capabilities and bear on the decisions of the commander (JP 3-0). The tasks of the fires warfighting function present the essential capabilities that a commander may use to influence the OE and create and exploit positions of relative advantage across domains. In operations short of armed conflict, the United States has adversaries. An adversary is a party acknowledged as potentially hostile to a friendly party and against which the use of force may be envisaged (JP 3-0). During these operations, commanders may shape the OE with fires to promote regional stability or set conditions in the event of escalation to conflict. They may also prevent conflict, deterring the actions of an adversary escalating towards conflict by using fires to change an adversary’s risk calculus and raising the costs of continuing activities that threaten U.S. interests. For example, deploying a Patriot battery to a forward location can reduce the ability of the adversary to create effects with long range fires and demonstrate U.S. resolve to support an ally or partner. The authorities to employ fires during operations to shape and prevent will typically rest at a higher level, to allow close management of escalation at the appropriate level. During operations to shape and prevent, commanders mainly employ nonlethal assets, but the arrival and positioning of lethal assets can shape the information environment to accomplish strategic objectives. Use of fires in these conditions must be in concert with the other warfighting functions as well as the instruments of national power (diplomatic, information, military, and economic.) If efforts to prevent escalation fail, the OE will transition to a state of conflict. The United States enters into conflict against an enemy. An enemy is a party identified as hostile against which the use of force is authorized (ADP 3-0). During conflict, commanders continue to employ fires to shape the OE and prevent further escalation, but will also use fires in support of large-scale combat operations and to consolidate gains. Authorities for employment of fires during conflict should be delegated as low as possible to allow for responsive fires. However, the delegation of authorities must be balanced against the level of effects the assets can create. Authorities for employment of some assets, such as offensive cyberspace operations, must be retained at a higher level due to their operational or strategic nature. Ultimately, the goal of operations during conflict is to return the OE to a state of competition that is advantageous to the U.S. and our allies and partners. A peer threat is an adversary or enemy able to effectively oppose U.S. forces world-wide while enjoying a position of relative advantage in a specific region. These threats can generate equal or temporarily superior combat power in geographical proximity to a conflict area with U.S. forces. A peer threat may also have a cultural affinity to specific regions, providing them relative advantages in terms of time, space, and sanctuary. They generate tactical, operational, and strategic challenges an order of magnitude more challenging militarily than other adversaries. Peer threats can employ resources across multiple domains to create lethal and nonlethal effects with operational significance throughout an OE. They seek to delay deployment of U.S. forces and inflict significant damage across multiple domains in a short period to achieve their goals before culminating. A