ATP-3-09-42 Fire Support for the Brigade Combat Team Download
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Chapter 5 5-36 ATP 3-09.42 1 March 2016 5-153. Counterfire responsibility for the fire support planners includes: Support the BCT commander’s protection priorities. Develop and disseminate intelligence and order of battle information on the threat’s indirect fire system. Advise the BCT commander in establishment of attack guidance for counterfire targets. Coordinate the BCT’s counterfire with higher echelon counterfire activities. Integrate counterfire into the BCT OPLAN to enable the BCT operation. Achieve indirect fire superiority within the BCT’s area of operations. The BCT commander establishes the unit protection priorities. These priorities are normally stated in terms of what and when assets, functions, or positions are critical to the BCT’s mission. Information on the enemy indirect fire system includes all systems in the BCT’s area of operations, as well as any outside the area of operations, that can impact the BCT’s mission including: Indirect fire weapon systems—mortars, cannons, rocket, and missile launchers. Target acquisition assets—observers, radars, sound or flash systems, and electronic intelligence. Command and control elements relevant to counterfire operations. Enemy indirect fire tactics. Enemy counterfire tactics—to include use of lethal and nonlethal ground and air forces against friendly field artillery. PLANNING AND TARGETING FOR BCT COUNTERFIRE OPERATIONS 5-154. The counterfire process begins with BCT commander’s guidance, intelligence preparation of the battlefield (see ATPs 2-01.3 and 2-19.4) and selection of high-value targets and tentative high-payoff targets (see ATP 3-60) early in the MDMP and continues throughout operations. The fire support annex to the BCT OPORD and its supporting field artillery battalion OPORD (or field artillery support plan) are MDMP products that detail planned BCT counterfire operations (see appendix B for examples). 5-155. If the enemy indirect fire threat is significant, the BCT commander may direct air, ground, and electronic information collection (see the discussion in chapter 4 and FM 3-55) and target acquisition assets (see ATP 3-09.12) to find and target the threat. The BCT S-2 and fires cell planners and targeting officers develop named areas of interest and target areas of interests where the enemy indirect fire assets are expected. The BCT S-3 assigns units to detect enemy activities in the selected named areas of interest. Tasks that are given to the cavalry squadron, the military intelligence company, and maneuver units form the basis of the brigade’s information collection plan. 5-156. Information feeds from the manned and unmanned aircraft systems, and electronic, communications, and human intelligence sources populate the intelligence database in the BCT’s intelligence cell. The intelligence system generates target nominations that are digitally transmitted to the AFATDS in the fires cell for mission processing. Sensors providing information on targets not meeting the target selection standards are used to cue other sensors to validate the target. 5-157. The flexibility of unmanned aircraft systems makes them a key resource to be cross-cued to locate enemy indirect fire targets. Once located, field artillery, close air support, or maneuver assets may engage the targets. Unmanned aircraft systems may loiter over the area to provide near real time battle damage assessment. Table 5-2 on page 5-37 provides an example technique that has been successfully used in training exercises to attack indirect fire targets located by unmanned aircraft systems with field artillery.