ATP-3-09-42 Fire Support for the Brigade Combat Team Download
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Chapter 6 6-32 ATP 3-09.42 1 March 2016 6-117. Triggers are a physical point on the ground, or an action, or event. During the offensive tasks, a trigger is often a maneuver action or event. In the defense, a trigger is more often a physical spot on the ground. See table 6-22 on page 6-32 for the suggested sequence for trigger development. Table 6-22. Trigger development Step 1 Determine the position on the ground where fires will engage the enemy, for example, the impact of high explosive rounds on target or location of illumination rounds employed at night to discover a possible threat. Step 2 To engage a moving target, determine the enemy rate of movement. This may be done by estimation, on the basis of past experience, from doctrinal literature, or from scout reports of enemy speed. Step 3 Determine the time of flight of the rounds from the weapon system firing the mission. Step 4 Determine the processing time. Processing time is the time required from the call for fire to rounds being fired from the weapon system. Step 5 Determine the total mission time. The total mission time is time of flight plus processing time. Step 6 Place the trigger point the required distance from a planned target location based on the following: {total mission time x speed of enemy = distance}. OBSERVATION PLANNING 6-118. For close support, the positioning of ground observers is key to the successful employment of fire support. Observer positioning needs to be top-driven with a requirement to provide detailed refinement in order to ensure effective target attack. 6-119. Use reverse target observer planning (working from the target back to the observer) to verify the feasibility of the observation plan. Observation planning is complex because it depends on leaders across the BCT to ensure success. Using the 6-step technique 6-120. For this purpose, the 6-step observation planning technique retains flexibility at the lowest level to position observers. Using top down planning, bottom up refinement to position observers optimizes and synchronizes observer positioning across the BCT. Detecting and assessing the effects of fires is critical. 6-121. The 6-step technique provides a methodical approach to produce refined, executable, integrated, and synchronized observation plans. This observation planning technique also provides the observer and commander with data necessary to rapidly adapt that plan during execution if a planned observation post is determined to be unsuitable after using a line of sight and risk estimate diagram. Step 1: Determine the Desired Effects of Fires 6-122. The first step is to determine what the commander would like fire support to achieve—the desired effects of fires. The BCT’s FSCOORD, fires cell planners, and targeting officers develop fire support tasks during mission analysis. In planning for observation, it is important that the FSCOORD and fires cell planners, the BCT commander and the subordinate battalion and company commanders have a common understanding of what fire support must do to support the operation before the fire support planners begin to develop the how to do it. The targeting guidance must be clear, as the desired effects may result in the development of multiple targets used to identify where fires will achieve the effects. For example, a delay effect may require that fire support attack a moving formation several times with different assets in different locations. 6-123. In planning for observation, the FSCOORD, fires cell planners, and targeting officers must consider each target and determine how many observers may be required to meet this task. They must also make an assumption on the number of alternate observers needed to be sure fires achieve the desired effects. As with the development of probable force ratios described in ADRP 3-90, the BCT S-2, S-3, FSCOORD and fires cell planners should look at the enemy capabilities and assess friendly tangible factors (such as equipment, weapon systems, and units) and intangible factors (such as morale and training levels) along with mission variables of METT-TC to determine the number of primary and alternate observers required for each target. The fire support planners must refine that requirement after they determine the attack means and observation suitability in observation planning’s Step 2 and determine observation feasibility and further refine an observation course of action in Step 3. During this current step it is simply