ATP-3-09-42 Fire Support for the Brigade Combat Team Download
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Chapter 3 3-18 ATP 3-09.42 1 March 2016 TARGET ACQUISITION 3-92. Target acquisition in an urban environment faces several challenges. Sensors and reconnaissance have difficulty penetrating the urban environment’s increased cover and concealment limiting both target acquisition and battle damage assessment. Moving personnel or vehicular targets are normally the easiest to acquire. However, the cover and concealment provided by urban terrain gives moving targets short exposure times, requiring firing systems to act rapidly on targeting data. In specific circumstances, weapon locating radar target acquisition may be more effective in locating hostile firing weapons because of the increased use of high-angle indirect fires. 3-93. Targeting challenges are met by innovatively integrating reconnaissance capabilities. These capabilities include not only the standard reconnaissance assets of the BCT, but those from the division, corps, theater army and joint forces as well. Air Force reconnaissance and surveillance systems contribute significantly to assessing the urban area. These information collection systems include manned and unmanned aircraft systems. These information systems are vulnerable to weather and SWOs should be leveraged to provide weather effects assessments for both the platforms and sensors based on current and forecast weather conditions. Air Force reconnaissance and surveillance systems can provide vital data to help assess threat intentions, threat dispositions, and an understanding of the civilian population. These systems also can downlink raw information in real-time to Army intelligence processing and display systems, such as the common ground station or division tactical exploitation system. OBSERVATION 3-94. Ground observation may be limited. Consider placing observers on overlooking terrain outside the city and using external routes for observer movement. 3-95. Allow additional time for observer relocations when rubble, downed electrical wires, snipers, and other obstacles and impediments to movement may exist. Observers may need to take routes around obstacles. Elevators typically should not be used to avoid becoming trapped in the event of power failure. This can require time-consuming stairway climbs to gain an adequate vantage point. Fatigue may become a problem. 3-96. Forward observers should be positioned where they can get the maximum observation so that target acquisition and adjustments in fire can best be accomplished. This is not necessarily on the tops of buildings. Forward observers may be placed on upper floors of buildings to improve visibility. The observers on rooftops are vulnerable to both enemy aircraft direct fire and artillery or mortar airbursts. 3-97. Ground observation is limited in urban areas. Adjusting fires is difficult since buildings may block the view of adjusting rounds; therefore, the lateral method of adjustment may be most useful in urban operations. The impact of initial rounds may be adjusted laterally, until a round impacts on the street perpendicular to the forward edge of the battle area. When rounds impact on the perpendicular street, they are adjusted for range. When the range is correct, a lateral shift is made onto the target, and the guns fire for effect. Adjustments may be made by sound although this can be deceptive due to echoes off of buildings. Using airburst rounds is another technique for adjustment. 3-98. Consider the use of aerial observers. Aerial observers are effective for seeing behind buildings immediately to the front of friendly forces. These observers are extremely helpful when using adjusted fire because the observer may actually see the adjusting rounds impact behind buildings. Aerial observers can also relay calls for fire when communications are degraded due to power lines or masking by buildings. Illumination rounds fired to burn on the target can mark targets (both visual and infrared) in the daylight amid the smoke and dust of urban combat. 3-99. Forward observers must be able to determine where and how large are the dead spaces. Dead space is the area in which indirect fires cannot reach the street level because of buildings. This area is an enemy safe haven that is protected from indirect fires. For mortars and high-angle artillery fires, the dead space is about one-half the height of the building. For low-angle artillery fires, the dead space is about five times the height of the building behind which the target sits.