ATP-3-09-24 The Field Artillery Brigade Download
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Employment: How the Field Artillery Brigade Fights 30 March 2022 ATP 3-09.24 4-3 4-16. The FAB may be part of a multinational force and be either the supporting or the supported command. The FAB commander should be prepared to integrate and synchronize international partners in accordance with their national caveats, the sharing of intelligence, and theater sustainment functions. The FAB commander must also be prepared to analyze the mission's peculiar requirements and be prepared to exploit the advantages and compensate for the limitations of a multinational force. The FAB commander should be prepared to establish liaison with multinational forces that are task organized to the FAB and with FAB supported multinational forces. Exchanging liaison teams fosters common understanding of missions and tactics, facilitates transfer of information, and enhances mutual trust and confidence. For more on multinational operations see JP 3-16. DESIGNATE, WEIGHT, AND SUSTAIN THE MAIN EFFORT 4-17. Commanders frequently face competing demands for limited combat power. They resolve these competing demands by establishing priorities. One way in which commanders establish priorities is by designating, weighting, and sustaining the main effort. The main effort is a designated subordinate unit whose mission at a given point in time is most critical to overall mission success (ADP 3-0). The main effort is weighted with the appropriate amount of combat power. Designating a main effort may include augmenting its task organization and temporarily giving that unit priority of support. The commander may also designate other priorities, including for air defense, close air support and other fires, ISR coverage, and mobility and counter-mobility support. 4-18. Commanders shift resources and priorities to the main effort as circumstances require. Commanders may shift the main effort several times during an operation. They may even shift priorities prior to designating a unit as the main effort in order to set conditions for the main effort success later during the operation. FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE STRIKE AND COUNTERFIRE 4-19. A FAB's primary tasks are conducting corps-level strike operations and augmenting division level shaping operations. The FAB provides the corps with the capability to mass effects during shaping operations in the conduct of large-scale combat operations. 4-20. The corps or division commander can assign the role of counterfire HQ to a FAB, or a separate FA BN. The counterfire HQ must be allocated the necessary assets to conduct the counterfire fight. The counterfire HQ will coordinate with the G-2 to integrate all available units into the counterfire fight in a proactive manner. STRIKE 4-21. The FAB conducts strikes as a component of offensive and defensive operations. The FAB's long range fires support strategic assurance and deterrence missions by providing a capability to strike ground targets at extended distances. These fires contribute to shaping operations and defeating or denying enemy capabilities that threaten deploying joint and multinational forces. Fires strike enemy capabilities before they come in contact with or are employed against U.S. forces, enabling commanders to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative. These fires present the enemy with multiple dilemmas, limit options, and destroy or degrade capabilities. Fires will support a broad range of operations, and will often require the integration of joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational partners. 4-22. Strike is generally focused on a specific enemy formation and is a deliberate operation with a timeline of several hours to several days-it is not a fire mission against a target of opportunity. Strike may include rapid and aggressive maneuver of FAB assets well forward in the higher or supported HQ AO to achieve range on the identified target. This is accomplished either by assigning a mission to a maneuver element to support the FAB's maneuver forward, or by task-organizing maneuver or other security assets (for example, infantry, armor, military police, or air defense artillery) to the FAB. Strike capitalizes on the ability of Army forces to deliver effects of fires to the full depth and breadth of the division, corps, or JTF AO.