ATP-3-09-02 Field Artillery Survey Download
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16 February 2016 ATP 3-09.02 3-1 Chapter 3 Survey Operations Survey operations must be responsive, accurate, and flexible. The artillery surveyor's primary mission is to provide accurate orientation and determine the coordinates and height of weapons and target-locating systems relative to one another. This is known as establishing a common grid. The task of providing a common grid involves different levels of command and echelons of survey. Beginning at the echelon above brigade, technical engineer specialists (geodetic surveyors) establish third-order or higher SCPs in the corps and division area for the FAB, DIVARTY, and BCTs. FAB, DIVARTY, or BCT surveyors extend control to FA battalion areas, where the battalion surveyors extend control to the weapons and target-locating devices. This chapter discusses the survey operations typical of the following: Common grid. FA battalion. Special environments. SECTION I – FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION SURVEY 3-1. The primary mission of the surveyors in a FA battalion is to provide timely survey control and common grid for firing units and target-locating systems within prescribed accuracies. Survey control consists mainly of establishing a line of known direction and determining the locations, both horizontally and vertically, of the weapons and the target-locating systems. REASONS FOR COMMON GRID MASS FIRES 3-2. Accurate survey permits rapid and economical massing of fires. For artillery to mass fires accurately without survey requires an observed adjustment of all units on the target or prior registration of all units on a common registration point. DELIVER SURPRISE OBSERVED FIRES 3-3. If survey is not available and all batteries are required to adjust on a target, the element of surprise is lost. Complete surprise is impossible without survey. DELIVER EFFECTIVE UNOBSERVED FIRES 3-4. Without survey, consistently effective unobserved fires are possible only if the target has been fired on previously and re-plot data have been computed. TRANSFER TARGET DATA BETWEEN UNITS 3-5. Transfer of target data between units is possible only when units are located relative to each other and to the target (on a common grid).