ATP-3-09-42 Fire Support for the Brigade Combat Team Download
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Chapter 1 1-2 ATP 3-09.42 1 March 2016 1-5. The BCT can execute combined arms missions without augmentation, but it can also be tailored to meet the precise needs of its missions. The BCT is the largest fixed tactical unit in the Army. However, additional battalions and companies may be allocated via command or support relationships to the BCT or to its organic battalions. Companies can be detached from the battalions as part of force tailoring at the strategic and operational levels and task organization at the tactical level. See Field Manual (FM) 3-96 for more on the organization, capabilities and tactical employment of the BCT. 1-6. The BCT is the Army’s primary combined arms, close combat force. BCTs often operate as part of a division or joint task force. Depending upon the mission variables of mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops and support available, time available, and civil considerations (METT-TC), the division commands between two and five BCTs and a mix of multifunctional support brigades. The size, composition, capabilities, and other attributes vary significantly among joint task forces based on the mission and various factors of the operational environment. The division or other higher headquarters assigns the BCT its mission, area of operations, supporting elements, and coordinates its actions with other BCTs of the formation. The division or other higher headquarters may augment the BCT with additional capabilities with which the BCT may task organize to accomplish assigned tasks. Division commanders use armored, infantry, or Stryker BCTs supported by multifunction support brigades—field artillery brigades (FABs), combat aviation brigades, maneuver enhancement brigades, battlefield surveillance brigades, and sustainment brigades —and functional brigades such and air defense artillery brigades, engineer brigades, civil affairs brigades, and military police brigades, to accomplish their assigned missions. Sustainment brigades are typically subordinate to the theater sustainment command and provide support to other Army units on an area basis. For more on the organization, capabilities and employment of the FAB, combat aviation brigade, maneuver enhancement brigade, battlefield surveillance brigade, and sustainment brigade see ATP 3-09.24, ATP 4-93, FM 3-04.111, and FM 3-81. SECTION II – BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM ORGANIZATION FOR FIRE SUPPORT COORDINATION 1-7. The fires warfighting function is the related tasks and systems that provide collective and coordinated use of Army indirect fires, air and missile defense, and joint fires through the targeting process (Army doctrine reference publication [ADRP] 3-0). An organization’s fires cell is the command post cell responsible for integrating and coordinating the fires warfighting function with ongoing and planned operations. BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM FIRES CELL Note: The organization described for the BCT fires cell in the following paragraphs represents a way, not the way. Commanders organize the resources of their unit based on the mission variables. 1-8. The BCT main command post fires cell works closely with battalion fires cells and company fire support teams (FIST). These organizations ensure responsive and effective fire support is provided to their respective maneuver commanders and actions are closely coordinated through the BCT main command post fires cell. 1-9. The BCT main command post fires cell is generally organized with a fire support officer (FSO) and assistants, an air defense airspace management/brigade aviation element (ADAM/BAE), an electronic warfare element, a targeting element, and digital systems operators. References throughout this document to fire support planners include not only members of the fires cell but also the BCT’s cannon field artillery battalion commander as the BCT’s fire support coordinator (FSCOORD) and members of the targeting working group and targeting board. These personnel are all members of the targeting team. 1-10. The BCT main command post fires cell has resources to integrate and coordinate fires from the main command post and the tactical command post when it is deployed. When the tactical command post is deployed, selected fires cell personnel provide its fires element. An Air Force tactical air control party aligned with the BCT may send selected personnel with the tactical command post.