FM-3-09 Fire Support and Field Artillery Operations Download
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30 April 2020 FM 3-09 6-1 Chapter 6 Fire Support in Depth During Large-Scale Ground Combat Operations This chapter is divided into three sections which describe fire support considerations during the Army’s strategic role to prevail in large-scale ground combat operations. Section I briefly describes large-scale combat operations and then describes fire support considerations in the deep area during large-scale ground combat operations, to include forcible entry, airborne, and air assault operations. Sections II and III address fire support in close operations during large-scale ground combat operations, first in the defense and then in the offense. Section IV discusses fire support consideration for enabling operations. Section V discusses fire support considerations during stability operations and in the consolidation area. PREVAIL IN LARGE-SCALE GROUND COMBAT OPERATIONS Large-scale combat operations introduce levels of complexity, lethality, ambiguity, and speed to military activities not common in other operations. Large -scale combat operations require the execution of multiple tasks synchronized and converged across multiple domains to create opportunities to destroy, dislocate, disintegrate, and isolate enemy forces. (FM 3-0) 6-1. During large-scale ground combat operations, Army forces focus on the defeat and destruction of enemy ground forces as part of the joint team. Army forces close with and destroy enemy forces in any terrain, exploit success, and break the opponent's will to resist. Army forces attack, defend, perform stability operations, and consolidate gains to accomplish national objectives. The ability to prevail in ground combat is a decisive factor in breaking an enemy's capability and will to continue a conflict. “Conflict resolution requires the Army to conduct sustained operations with unified action partners as long as necessary to accomplish national objectives” (ADP 3-0). Echelon above brigade formations and their respective FS staffs are central to the conduct of large-scale ground combat operations. They must fight with fires and maneuver in the security and deep areas, and support brigade and below operations in the close and consolidation areas. 6-2. Joint FS contributes extensively to the Army's ability to defeat and destroy enemy ground forces by supporting offensive and defensive operations in large-scale ground combat operations. Simultaneously attacking enemy HPTs with fires in depth presents an enemy force with multiple dilemmas across all domains, forcing them to react continually. Retaining the initiative requires employment of sustained, relentless lethal and nonlethal fires on enemy forces. Commanders maintain this pressure by accomplishing the four basic FS functions previously discussed. SECTION I – FIRE SUPPORT IN DEEP OPERATIONS 6-3. Deep shaping operations with integrated fires executed at increasingly longer ranges with precision in conjunction with fires in the close area are key elements for JFCs, corps, and divisions in shaping the OE and accelerating the enemy's defeat in large-scale ground combat operations. A shaping operation is an operation at any echelon that creates and preserves conditions for success of the decisive operation through effects on the enemy, other actors, and the terrain (ADP 3-0). Deep operations and their corresponding fires are not just tools of the defense. They are, if anything, even more critical in the offense. In both offense and defense, operations in the deep area involve efforts to interdict uncommitted maneuver forces using fire, maneuver, or a combination of the two to create opportunities to seize and retain the initiative. Interdiction is an action