ATP-3-09-42 Fire Support for the Brigade Combat Team Download
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Chapter 2 2-18 ATP 3-09.42 1 March 2016 2-89. Other fire support required for exploitation forces should be mobile and possess the flexibility to respond quickly to the needs of maneuver. On-order priorities of fire and on-order missions for fire support are designated to quickly shift priorities to units within the exploitation force or follow-and-support force if necessary. Control of assets should be decentralized due to the need for responsive fires and the decreased requirement for massed fires. FIRE SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS SPECIFIC TO THE PURSUIT 2-90. In planning fires for the pursuit: Provide fires to slow the enemy’s retreat and to allow the enveloping force to catch up. If scatterable mines are used to slow the retreat, ensure that safety zones are disseminated. Provide fires to prevent enemy reinforcement. Use obscuration to slow and disrupt the enemy’s retreat. Maximize the use of available close air support and attack helicopters. Plan for continual displacement of mortars and field artillery. Subsequent positions must be coordinated through fires cells as early as possible. Plan for greater use of available radio retransmission capabilities. Provide fires to fix bypassed enemy forces until friendly follow-on elements can engage. Consider designating areas around bypassed pockets of resistance as free-fire areas. Ensure that all FSCMs are well forward to allow for the speed of the operation. Plan RFLs when necessary between the encircling and direct-pressure forces. Plan for increased petroleum, oil, lubricants and ammunition usage. Air transportation of supplies may be required. Use captured enemy materiel and stocks of supplies when possible and approved. Plan the use of manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. Engage command and control elements with fires to disrupt the enemy’s attempts to consolidate and reorganize. FIRE SUPPORT TASK ORGANIZATION CONSIDERATIONS SPECIFIC TO THE PURSUIT 2-91. Fire support organization for combat must be decentralized to increase responsiveness of fires. The BCT commander, along with the FSCOORD, should consider the appropriate command or support relationship for field artillery units supporting the force conducting a pursuit. 2-92. Air support must be responsive to effectively slow the enemy’s retreat. Fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft on ground or air alert may be necessary to provide the degree of responsiveness required. FIRE SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENTRY OPERATIONS 2-93. Forcible entry is the seizing and holding of a military lodgment in the face of armed opposition (JP 3-18). A lodgment is a designated area in a hostile or potentially hostile operational area that, when seized and held, makes the continuous landing of troops and materiel possible and provides maneuver space for subsequent operations (JP 3-18). GENERAL FIRE SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENTRY OPERATIONS 2-94. During the initial stages of air assault or airborne operations, commanders may require positive clearance of fires because of the amount of air assets in the area. Elements are extremely vulnerable during the landing, at the landing zone, drop zone, or airhead. Fires in preparation for an assault or supporting an assault are normally delivered by close air support or naval surface fire support and are normally controlled from an airborne platform. 2-95. Survey is generally not initially available; units must rely on hasty survey techniques until organic survey assets are deployed and operational. Prior coordination for available survey information is vital. Field artillery and mortars should be placed on a common grid as soon as possible.