ATP-3-09-90 Division Artillery Operations and Fire Support Download
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Division Fire Support ATP 3-09.90 2-5 COMMANDER’S GUIDANCE FOR FIRE SUPPORT Commander's guidance is used to focus staff activities in planning and coordinating operations. The commander's guidance for fires provides the staff, fires personnel, and subordinate units with the general guidelines and restrictions for the employment of fires, desired effects and the planning and execution of targeting. The guidance emphasizes in broad terms when, where, and how the commander intends to integrate the effects of fires with the other capabilities available to the force to accomplish the mission. Commander's guidance recognizes the inherent capabilities of all available fires resources and is designed to use them to quickly gain the tactical advantage and effectively defeat the enemy. The commander’s guidance includes priorities for support and how the commander envisions that fires will be fully integrated into the scheme of maneuver: Priority of fires is the commander's guidance to the staff, subordinate commanders, the fire support planning team, and supporting agencies to employ fires in accordance with the relative importance of a unit's mission. The CAS distribution decision is the ground commander’s guidance for the employment of CAS assets among competing requirements. The senior ground forces commander (corps, JFLCC) makes a distribution decision for use of CAS; each commander should apply that guidance and make a distribution decision at their command level. CAS planning and execution is affected by the ground commander’s distribution decision. The distribution decision only affects those sorties assigned as CAS missions that are provided to support the Army. Note: JFLCC or senior Army commander’s CAS and AI distribution responsibilities do not end with the publication of the ATO. During ATO execution the JFLCC still retains this authority and needs to be mindful of the changing maneuver priorities in order to quickly distribute or redistribute CAS and AI supporting ground force operations on a rapidly changing battlefield. When given the authority by the JAOC, the ASOC can re-task on-call air alert (also referred to as XCAS) or on-call ground alert (also referred to as GCAS) missions to fill immediate ASRs for CAS for evolving requirements. The FSCOORD, or chief of fires (performing the duties of the deputy FSCOORD), and ALO are integral to the process and advise the commander on the phrasing of the distribution decision for publication in the fire support plan (Annex D – Fires, Appendix 5 – Air Support). The CAS distribution decision provides anticipated availability of CAS for subordinate units and guides how the ASOC manages air sorties supporting the ground commander’s operations. The ASOC and ALO should maintain awareness of the proposed sortie distribution for their respective ground commander. Before the ASOC sources any immediate ASRs, the ground commander or his designated authority will decide which immediate ASRs will be approved or denied. Considerations to apply to the CAS distribution decision include whether to support the main effort, supporting effort, or economy of force by using airpower vice preponderance of surface-to-surface fires capabilities. Note: The JAOC or JFACC may delegate decentralized execution authority to the ASOC to launch, redirect, or re-target CAS missions providing a faster response time when or where air support is needed to support the ground commander's operations. A priority target in fires automation system processing is a target on which the delivery of fires takes precedence over all the fires for the designated firing unit or element. The firing unit or element will prepare, to the extent possible, for the engagement of such targets. A firing unit or element may be assigned only one priority target. The priority target designation may be based on either time or importance. The commander also gives specific guidance as to when the targets will become priority, the munitions to use, the accuracy required, and the desired effects. When not engaged in fire missions, firing units lay on established priority targets. Fire support personnel should note that, although massed fires may create the most lethal effect, fires with precision munitions may be the most effective means to engage the target mitigating the risk of collateral damage while creating the commander's desired effect. 12 October 2017