ADP-3-19 FIRES Warfighting Function Download
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Chapter 1 1-8 ADP 3-19 31 July 2019 and staff must also determine when those capabilities are likely to be required. As discussed above, commanders may use fires as flexible deterrent and response options, and deployment of these capabilities should be prioritized to allow the commander to either deter escalation or respond to aggression. When preparing for deployment, the theater army will also provide a desired task organization, recommended deployment sequence, and required pre-deployment training. An example of fires pre- deployment training is theater specific training on defense design that includes DAL, friendly force locations, adversary air avenues of approach, and enemy air and missile threat types. This information allows precise tailoring of fires force packages in size and types. Fires forces that provide protection from enemy attack are among the very first recommended for early deployment sequence into a theater and in and of themselves may be all that is needed to deter an adversary from further escalation. Another example of additional fires pre-deployment training may be higher-level training on joint target development, particularly for personnel in operational level HQ, to allow them to better execute the joint targeting cycle. The task organization initially used during force tailoring may not be the same as that used for combat, as it is the primary purpose of this initial task organization is to allow control of the forces through deployment and reception, staging, onward movement and integration. However, when possible, units should receive their command and support relationships to their gaining higher HQ prior to deployment to allow for early integration. This can assist with ensuring that fires tasks are executed competently according to a commonly understood standard operating procedures. Additional task organization will occur once the deploying Army forces have completed reception, staging, onward movement and integration and operational control passes to the JFC. Fires In Support Of Force Projection The Army projects national power by maintaining a viable, visible, and expeditionary land combat capability. Commanders support this competency with a highly capable, expeditionary land force that deters threat aggression and enables commanders to achieve and maintain overmatch. This land force includes both the active and reserve components; the reserve component provides or augments critical capabilities necessary for the employment of the total force. Commanders use fires to set the conditions for successful operations by suppressing threat capabilities, disrupting threat operations, destroying or attriting threat formations, and defending friendly critical assets. Assets and capabilities that integrate and deliver fires are essential joint enablers. These enablers are used to build partner capacity in advance of hostilities and to defend forces and critical assets. This assures access to contested areas as part of the forward-stationing peacetime construct or employed as part of national power projection operations. FIRES IN SUPPORT OF LARGE-SCALE COMBAT OPERATIONS The Army, as part of the joint force, conducts large-scale combat operations. The preponderance of large-scale combat operations will consist of offensive and defensive operations initially, although some. stability operations will occur simultaneously as part of consolidating gains. Commanders employ fires as part of large-scale combat operations by creating effects to enable joint force freedom of action. Commanders use Army and joint targeting to select and prioritize targets, integrating lethal and nonlethal effects from different capabilities in support of large-scale combat operations. Commanders may converge effects from multiple systems, either simultaneously or in close succession, to create an even greater effect than would have been achieved if each effect was created individually. Convergence is the massing of capabilities from multiple domains to create effects in a single domain. Convergence overwhelms the enemy, giving them too many dilemmas to address simultaneously, which creates gaps for exploitation by the joint force. The convergence of multiple effects within an area requires careful synchronization prior to execution to ensure effects don’t interfere with one another or pose a risk to the force. To effectively enable joint force freedom of action during large-scale combat operations, commanders must synchronize the effects created with fires with the actions of the rest of the joint force. This synchronization initially takes place during planning, where commanders and their staffs determine the timing of the creation of the effect and link that timing to a clearly defined, conditions-based trigger.